Nouns

“Link” vs. “Linkage”

Common English Blunders, Nouns, Verbs, Versus

I heard a landscape designer on an HGTV program refer to “creating a linkage” between a home and a potting shed.

Problem:
These two nouns are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The landscape designer was referring simply to installing a paved path between the home and the shed. In other words, the path would connect the shed with the home.

When I heard the designer call the path itself a “linkage”, I wondered whether this was the appropriate noun and looked up “linkage” and “link” in a dictionary.

The noun “link” essentially means anything that connects two people, places, or things.

The noun “linkage” essentially means one of the following:

  • the act of linking — as in “The CIA’s linkage of the two spies took three years.”;
  • a system of links — as in “There is a complex linkage between the fertilizer that one puts on a lawn and the chemicals in the water that can be extracted from an underground aquifer.”

I believe that some people use “linkage” when the noun “link” is appropriate because they want to sound more educated — and perhaps charge more for their services!

Solution:
Use “link” when referring to a connection between two people, places, or things. Use “linkage” when referring to the act of creating links or when referring to a system of links.

“Bouillon” vs. “Bullion”

Common English Blunders, Mispronunciations, Misspellings, Nouns, Versus

I saw each of these words in the past week and wondered about their origins.

Problem:
These two nouns are not synonyms but look so similar that some people will mistakenly use one of the nouns when they should use the other noun.

Explanation:
The noun “bouillon” — spelled B-O-U-I-L-L-O-N — means a clear broth made from straining water in which meat has been cooked. This noun dates back to the mid-sixteen-hundreds and is derived from the French verb that means to boil.

The noun “bullion” — spelled B-U-L-L-I-O-N — means silver or gold considered in mass (for example, in bars) instead of in value. This noun dates back to the mid-thirteen-hundreds and also can trace its origin to the word for boiling or bubbling — as in a melted mass of silver or gold.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following mistaken phrases (with the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “chicken bullion” — 18,300 matches
  • “beef bullion” — 14,700 matches
  • “gold bouillon” — 3,510 matches
  • “silver bouillon” — 1,280 matches

I call these “mistaken phrases” because I combined two words that should not go together based on the definitions of bullion and bouillon. These results tell me that Web authors are worse at properly naming their broths than they are at properly naming their masses of gold and silver.

Solution:
Use “bouillon” when referring to broth. Use “bullion” when referring to gold or silver.

“Rebel-rouser”

Mispronunciations, Nouns

I heard this on a radio program this morning.

Problem:
This is a mispronunciation that almost hits the mark.

Explanation:
The talk-show host on the radio program was referring to a politician who had stirred up a crowd of unhappy voters.

The compound noun “rabble-rouser” was what the host should have said.

The noun “rabble” means mob or disorderly crowd.

The noun “rouser” means someone who brings others out of a state of apathy, depression, or sleep.

The host mispronounced “rabble-rouser” as “rebel-rouser” — almost hitting the mark in that rebels can be disorderly, too, but failing to recognize that rebels need not be brought out of apathy because, by definition, rebels are passionate.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following compound nouns (with the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “rabble-rouser” — 393,000 matches
  • “rebel-rouser” — 124,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors favor “rabble-rouser” over “rebel-rouser” by a pitiful ratio of 3.17:1.

Solution:
“Rabble-rouser”