Word Confusion: Offpudding versus Off-putting

Posted November 19, 2024 by kddidit in Book Reviews

Oddly enough, writers seem to confuse this word confusion offpudding and off-putting. I’m gonna assume they’re hungry when they make this mistake.

The best I can say about offpudding is confusing it with off-putting because of unclear pronunciation. Or they’re on a diet and they are off pudding.

Off-putting is hyphenated and not run together and, like this post, annoying.

Um, no, this is not about golf.

Return to top

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.

If you found this post on “Offpudding versus Off-putting” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Offpudding	Off-putting
	Spicy, Marinated Rabbit Heads is under the CC BY 4.0 license and courtesy of Free Malaysia Today. — No offense, but the idea of eating rabbit heads is off-putting.
Part of Grammar:
	Adjective
	Adjective: Unpleasant, disconcerting, or repellent Provoking uneasiness, dislike, annoyance, or repugnance
Examples:
	Adjective: His scar is somewhat off-putting. She was rankled by the off-putting remarks. Many people find the smell of this product off-putting. It’s very off-putting to see him do that
Derivatives:
	Adverb: off-puttingly
History of the Word:
	1820–30; off + putting, after the verb phrase put off.

Return to top

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!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Building Your Website, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Marketing Help & Resources, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, and/or Writing Ideas and Resources.