Common English Blunders

“Supercede”

Common English Blunders, Misspellings, Verbs

I occasionally see “supercede” when the writer means something else.

Problem:
“Supercede” is a misspelled word.

Explanation:
“Supercede” is a misspelling of “supersede” and reflects the combination of the influence of other words (e.g., “intercede”) and an ignorance about the roots of words.

The verb “supersede” literally means to sit upon or above — from “super” (from the Latin “super”: upon or above) and “sede” (from the Latin “sedére”: to sit).

In contrast, the “cede” in verbs such as “concede” comes from the Latin “cédere”: to go or yield.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • supersede — 2,780,000 matches
  • supercede — 838,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have written the word correctly vs. incorrectly by a ratio of 3.32:1, which is pitiful.

I recall a software manufacturer once naming its product “Supercede” and wondering whether the maker intentionally misspelled “supersede” in order to create a unique name or unintentionally misspelled the verb out of ignorance.

In any case, I found it disheartening that the maker would use a common misspelling as its product’s brand name.

Solution:
“Supersede”

“Capital” vs. “Capitol”

Common English Blunders, Nouns, Versus

I often see these two words interchanged.

Problem:
The nouns “capital” and “capitol” are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The noun “capital” is from the Latin word “caput” and means head of a column or pillar.

The noun “capitol” is from the highest hill in Rome: Capitoline Hill.

The similarity between these two nouns is completely coincidental, according to some linguists.

Solution:
Use the noun “capital” to refer to a city that is an official seat of government or to refer to the wealth of an individual, group, or business. Use the noun “capitol” to refer to a building, or complex of buildings, occupied by a legislature. (Use “Capitol” to refer to the architectural structure in Washington, DC, where the United States Congress meets.)

“… where it has a scar at now.”

Common English Blunders, Prepositions

I heard this today on a talk-radio show about gardening.

Problem:
The preposition should not appear in this expression.

Explanation:
The caller who said this was describing a location on her tree to the gardening-show host.

That point on the tree had a scar.

The caller made the common English blunder of applying “where at” — a mistaken way to use “where” — to the location of the tree’s scar.

What’s ironic is that the lady probably thought that “at” helped to clarify or emphasize “where” but instead confused many listeners because “scar at” ran together as “scarrat” — resulting in “… where it has a scarrat now” — leaving us wondering what a “scarrat” was.

Solution:
“… where it has a scar now.”