OMG
STOP
You’re doing it wrong.
Grammar
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less vs. fewer omgstop.org/less
One is for things you count. The other is for things you measure. You picked wrong.
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they’re / their / there omgstop.org/theyre
Three words. Three jobs. You are picking one at random.
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apostrophes omgstop.org/apostrophe
They mark possession or missing letters. They have never once made anything plural.
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your / you’re omgstop.org/your
Two words. One is ownership, one is a contraction. You are mixing them.
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its / it’s omgstop.org/its
The apostrophe means “it is.” It has never meant “belonging to it.”
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affect / effect omgstop.org/affect
One is what you do. One is what happens. You have a 50% success rate.
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then / than omgstop.org/than
One is time. One is comparison. They are not interchangeable.
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lose / loose omgstop.org/lose
One extra O turns a verb into an adjective.
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who’s / whose omgstop.org/whose
Same trick as its/it’s, and the same 50% failure rate.
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to / too / two omgstop.org/too
Three words, one sound, and you are picking by vibe.
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me / I / myself omgstop.org/myself
“Myself” is not a fancier “me.” It is not a politeness upgrade.
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could of / would of / should of omgstop.org/could-of
It has always been “have.” You are transcribing a contraction you misheard.
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everyday / every day omgstop.org/everyday
One is an adjective. One is how often. The space is doing real work.
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farther / further omgstop.org/farther
One is distance you could measure. One is everything else.
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who / whom omgstop.org/whom
There is a test. It takes two seconds and you have never once used it.
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lay / lie omgstop.org/lay
One takes an object. One doesn’t. Then the past tenses make it worse.
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literally omgstop.org/literally
It means actually, in fact, not as a metaphor. You mean the opposite.
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irregardless omgstop.org/irregardless
The word is regardless. The extra syllable is doing damage, not work.
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compliment / complement omgstop.org/complement
One is a nice thing you say. One is a thing that completes another.
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principal / principle omgstop.org/principal
One is a person or the main thing. One is a rule.
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discreet / discrete omgstop.org/discreet
One means subtle. One means separate. The vowels swap.
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a lot / alot / allot omgstop.org/a-lot
A lot is two words. Alot is not a word. Allot is a verb, and it is not what you meant.
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adjectives vs. adverbs omgstop.org/adverbs
Adjectives describe things. Adverbs describe what things do. You have been using the first one for the second job.
Spelling
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definitely omgstop.org/definitely
There is no A in definitely. There has never been an A in definitely.
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separate omgstop.org/separate
There is a rat in separate. Remember the rat.
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accommodate omgstop.org/accommodate
Two Cs, two Ms. It accommodates both.
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necessary omgstop.org/necessary
One C, two Ss. Not the other way round.
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receive omgstop.org/receive
I before E, except after C. This is the actual case the rule was written for.
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occurred omgstop.org/occurred
Two Rs. The stress falls on the second syllable, so the consonant doubles.
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privilege omgstop.org/privilege
No D. There is no D anywhere in privilege.
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maintenance omgstop.org/maintenance
The verb is maintain. The noun drops the I.
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publicly omgstop.org/publicly
No AL. Publicly is the one adverb that breaks the pattern.
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embarrass omgstop.org/embarrass
Two Rs, two Ss. Double everything.
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calendar omgstop.org/calendar
It ends in -ar, not -er.
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recommend omgstop.org/recommend
One C, two Ms. The opposite of what everyone guesses.
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smorgasbord omgstop.org/smorgasbord
It ends in -bord. It is a Swedish table, not a fortress and not a plank.
Mangled phrases
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supposably omgstop.org/supposably
You mean supposedly. Supposably is a real word, and it does not mean that.
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for all intensive purposes omgstop.org/intensive-purposes
The phrase is “for all intents and purposes.” There is nothing intensive about it.
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couldn’t care less omgstop.org/couldnt-care-less
If you could care less, you care somewhat. That is the opposite of your point.
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nip it in the bud omgstop.org/nip-in-the-bud
It’s a gardening metaphor. No butts are involved.
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moot point omgstop.org/moot
Moot. Not mute. The point isn’t silent, it’s irrelevant.
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piqued my interest omgstop.org/piqued
Piqued. Not peaked, not peeked. Three homophones, one right answer.
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deep-seated omgstop.org/deep-seated
Seated, not seeded. Nothing was planted.
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home in omgstop.org/home-in
Home in, like a homing pigeon. Hone means to sharpen.
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sneak peek omgstop.org/sneak-peek
Peek. You are looking, not climbing a mountain.
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per se omgstop.org/per-se
Two Latin words. Neither of them is “say.”
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first-come, first-served omgstop.org/first-served
Served. The people are being served, not serving.
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bear with me omgstop.org/bear-with-me
Bear, as in endure. The other one is an undressing request.
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case in point omgstop.org/case-in-point
In point. Not and point. There aren’t two things.
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expresso omgstop.org/expresso
Espresso. There is no X. It is not express.
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down the pike omgstop.org/down-the-pike
A pike is a turnpike. Things come down the road at you. Nothing is coming down a pipe.
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prima donna omgstop.org/prima-donna
Italian for first lady. It is the lead soprano in an opera, and nothing about it precedes anyone.
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ad hoc omgstop.org/ad-hoc
Latin for for this. Two words, and no part of a pig is involved.
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soft-pedal omgstop.org/soft-pedal
It’s the quiet pedal on a piano. Peddling is selling, which is the opposite of what you are doing.
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vice versa omgstop.org/vice-versa
Two words, no hyphen, and no stray a in the middle. It’s Latin for the other way round.
Logical fallacies
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straw man omgstop.org/straw-man
You beat an argument nobody made. Impressive, irrelevant.
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ad hominem omgstop.org/ad-hominem
You attacked the person. The argument is still standing there, untouched.
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false dilemma omgstop.org/false-dilemma
Two options were offered. There were never only two.
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slippery slope omgstop.org/slippery-slope
You skipped from a small step to catastrophe and called it a consequence.
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appeal to authority omgstop.org/appeal-to-authority
Someone important said it. That still is not evidence.
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appeal to nature omgstop.org/appeal-to-nature
It’s natural, therefore it’s good. Hemlock is natural.
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appeal to tradition omgstop.org/appeal-to-tradition
We’ve always done it this way. That is a description, not a reason.
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bandwagon omgstop.org/bandwagon
Lots of people believe it. Lots of people have been wrong before.
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appeal to ignorance omgstop.org/appeal-to-ignorance
Nobody has disproved it. That is not the same as it being true.
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begging the question omgstop.org/begging-the-question
Your conclusion is hiding in your premise. Also: this phrase does not mean what you think.
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post hoc omgstop.org/post-hoc
It happened afterwards. That does not mean it happened because of.
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correlation is not causation omgstop.org/correlation-causation
Two things move together. That is where your evidence stops.
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hasty generalization omgstop.org/hasty-generalization
You met three of them. There are eight billion people.
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anecdotal evidence omgstop.org/anecdotal
Your uncle is not a study.
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cherry picking omgstop.org/cherry-picking
You found the data that agreed with you and stopped looking.
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no true Scotsman omgstop.org/no-true-scotsman
You redefined the category to get rid of the counterexample.
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tu quoque omgstop.org/tu-quoque
You do it too. My argument is still standing.
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red herring omgstop.org/red-herring
That’s a different subject, raised on purpose.
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moving the goalposts omgstop.org/moving-the-goalposts
You met the standard. They raised it.
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loaded question omgstop.org/loaded-question
There is an assumption smuggled into that question.
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gambler’s fallacy omgstop.org/gamblers-fallacy
The coin does not remember. It is not due.
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sunk cost omgstop.org/sunk-cost
You already spent it. It’s gone either way.
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composition and division omgstop.org/composition-division
True of the parts is not automatically true of the whole. Or the reverse.
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equivocation omgstop.org/equivocation
You used one word to mean two things and hoped nobody noticed.
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Texas sharpshooter omgstop.org/texas-sharpshooter
You drew the target around the bullet holes.
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personal incredulity omgstop.org/personal-incredulity
You can’t imagine how it works. The universe is not obliged to fit in your head.
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the fallacy fallacy omgstop.org/fallacy-fallacy
Their argument was bad. Their conclusion might still be right.
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survivorship bias omgstop.org/survivorship-bias
You are only looking at the ones that made it.
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relative privation omgstop.org/relative-privation
Someone has it worse. That is true of literally everyone.
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genetic fallacy omgstop.org/genetic-fallacy
You judged the claim by where it came from.
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poisoning the well omgstop.org/poisoning-the-well
You discredited them before they opened their mouth.
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middle ground omgstop.org/middle-ground
The truth is not automatically halfway between two positions.
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motte and bailey omgstop.org/motte-and-bailey
You defended the modest claim and then went back to the bold one.
Nothing. Either you spelled it wrong or nobody has written it yet.