Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Commonly misused/misspelled words and phrases (Part 77)

Still with me? Here are some more words and phrases to watch out for:

Cartoonish vs. Cartoonlike

Wrong: Her art has a cartoonish quality that I enjoy.

Right: Her art has a cartoonlike quality that I enjoy.


Cartoonlike refers to something that has the appearance or essence of a drawn or animated cartoon. Cartoonish, on the other hand, has the negative connotations of exaggerated or overblown (like a caricature). You might not mind people referring to your artwork as cartoonlike, but you’d probably object to them calling your makeup cartoonish.


Poinsetta vs. Poinsettia

Wrong: We sent them a lovely poinsetta for Christmas.

Right: We sent them a lovely poinsettia for Christmas.


Poinsetta is simply a misspelling of poinsettia.


I have more, so stay tuned.


Mark.

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