Here’s a fun word confusion — carousal vs carousel. I was reading along and stumbled over carousal. My own fault for wondering if it should be carousel. I had to go back and re-read it and define it in my head. Yep, it was right.
It may well be that riding on that carousel may lead to carousal, especially if you snap that gold ring!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Carousal | Carousel |
|---|---|
 — |
 |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Morpheme: carouse
Noun Plural: carousals |
Noun
Plural: carousels Alternative spelling: carrousel |
| Noun: A riotous drinking party Boisterous drunken merrymaking or revelry A merry drinking party |
Noun: [Mainly North American English] A merry-go-round [Also baggage carousel] A rotating machine or device, in particular a conveyor system at an airport from which arriving passengers collect their luggage [Historical] A tournament in which groups of knights took part in chariot races and other demonstrations of equestrian skills [Trademark] A circular tray in which photographic transparencies are held on a projector and from which they are lowered through slots for projection as the tray is rotated |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: The carousal went on all night long. We celebrated in further carousal. Their carousal ran deep into the night, er, the wee hours of the morning before they finally returned home. Alcohol is the inflammatory beverage at these carousals. |
Noun: Mummy, they have a carousel with horses and chickens and lions! They were waiting for their bags to appear on the carousel. In 1662, costumed nobles performed a carousel to celebrate the birth of the dauphin. “A centrifuge designed to help astronauts in microgravity looks sort of like a carousel, but with beds instead of ponies” (Temming). Have your assistant put the slides in the carousel, please. “The Google ‘On TV now’ search carousel shows programming across multiple channels that’s currently airing, while ‘On TV later’ shows recommendations for future programming” (Schwartz). |
| Derivatives: | |
| Noun: carouse, carouser Verb: carouse |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| The root word is mid-16th century, originally as an adverb meaning right out, completely in the phrase drink carouse, from the German gar aus trinken; hence drink heavily, have a drinking bout. | Mid-17th century from the French carrousel meaning kind of tournament, which is from the Italian carosello meaning kind of ball game, which is itself from the Neapolitan dialect carusello meaning game played with clay balls, clay ball, literally little head, equivalent to carus(o) (shorn head), perhaps based on the the Greek stem kors- (shave) + -ello, a diminutive suffix. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
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Resources for Carousal versus Carousel
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Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: carousel
Ehrlich, Blake and John Anthony Charles Ardagh. “Île Saint-Louis.” Britannica. Last updated 21 Sept 2024. Accessed 23 Sept 2024. <URL>. Article.
The Free Dictionary: carousal
Schwartz, Barry. “Google Search Helps Users Find Live Sport Games, Linear TV Shows.” Search Engine Land. 13 Aug 2020. Accessed 23 Sept 2024. <https://searchengineland.com/google-search-helps-you-find-live-sport-games-tv-shows-to-watch-339154>. Article.
Temming, Maria. “What Will Astronauts Need to Survive the Dangerous Journey to Mars?” Space. Science News. 15 Jul 2020. Accessed 23 Sept 2024. <https://www.sciencenews.org/article/astronauts-mars-space-health-survival>. Article.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Bachelorette Party, Frankfurt am Main, is Captain Franky‘s own work and Baggage Claim Carousel, Maine, is AutoWorks‘ own work. Both are under the CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
