more intolerable confusions and misspellings

tenet vs. tenant

A tenet is a foundational principle or article of belief. A tenant is someone who lives in an apartment, is a resident, holds property temporarily/permanently, pays rent, etc.

Examples:

Our church had an unusual tenant: a white rat that liked to crawl out every Sunday morning just before worship service and perform 108 bows to the cross mounted high on our sanctuary wall.

The rat appeared to be unaware of our church's basic tenets, as we were Christians and not Buddhists. It continued its weekly bowing quite unfazed by our stares.

Which reminds me...

It's "unfazed," not "unphased."

Moving on...


adverse vs. averse

Adverse means "untoward, harmful, hostile." Averse describes the attitude of being against something.

Examples:

Adverse weather conditions forced Emily to bite down during fellatio on Ben's yacht.

Ben, staring at the blood gushing from his stump, declared himself averse to this new state of affairs.

NB: Some will argue that "adverse" also works in the second example, but in cases where "adverse" means "hostile," we aren't talking about a person's attitude, but about objective conditions such as weather, etc.


definite vs. definate

Christ, get it right. Definite. There's no "a" there, just as there's no "a" in existence.


The above mini-rant is dedicated to people claiming to be English teachers. I offer this rant in the hope that they can be cured of their strange affliction.


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