13 January 2014

Homographs

Someone I know is a great player with words - he can find palindromes at the drop of a hat, DENIERS REINED being a recent great example.

But every time I see the word DENIER, I mispronounce it in my head and confuse myself - because

DENIER = one who denies = De Nye Er

but also

DENIER = a unit of measure for how sheer your stockings are = De Near

Homographs are just another delightful confusion wrought by our English language.

2 comments:

George said...

Oh, but you DO bite! Thanks for the tip o' the hat. I failed to point out the other day that my very silly "Cwm W.C." palindrome, apart from its extreme obscurity, also has the distinction of being possibly the world's first palindrome with no vowels.

S said...

These are the bane of my first graders' existence. Read/read is one that really bothers them.