a lesson on words

After you read this, you are going to think that I am anal retentive. You're right; I am. And in case you were also wondering where the term "anal retentive" comes from, basically it's a Freudian theory that when you were a kid, you struggled to take a dump. Learn more about it here.

The lesson
The word is eavesdropping, not ease dropping. This word comes from the idea that the eavesdropper would be listening at the edge of someone's house, perhaps by a window. Specifically, they would be under the eavesdrop, which is the area around a house or building which receives the rain water dropping from the eaves.

Accept is a verb meaning to receive. "I accept your marriage proposal."
Except is a preposition meaning excluding.  "You are a great boyfriend, except for the fact that you misuse words."

Affect is a verb meaning to influence. "The medicine did not affect me in any way. I was still coughing up my left lung."
Effect is a noun meaning result. "The effect of the medicine was minimal." You cannot have an effect without a cause.


It's prima donna, not pre-Madonna. Prima donna is Italian for leading lady and when used as an insult, it implies the person is egotistical or demanding. Don’t write “pre-Madonna” unless you intend to discuss the era before the singer Madonna became popular.

Than is used in comparisons. "I would rather gouge my eyes out than look at misused words."
Then denotes time. "I read Joelle's anal retentive blog post, and then I stopped making terrible language errors."

Now you will probably scrutinize everything I spell from now on and point out my errors. Please do so immediately. When I read old posts and find spelling errors, I just want to shrivel up and die. It's so embarrassing. I'm like, "how many hundreds of people have read this and now think I am a moron?"

Although I am trying to educate you right now on proper uses of certain words, I will admit to you, I CAN NEVER GET THE FOLLOWING CORRECT:

Lie, Lay:

Lie is an intransitive verb meaning to recline or rest on a surface. Its principal parts are lie, lay, lain. Lay is a transitive verb meaning to put or place. Its principal parts are lay, laid.

Hint: Chickens lay eggs. I lie down when I am tired.

Wait, what? The chicken will lay eggs, the chicken lays eggs, the chicken has lain eggs? Or laid eggs? I never know. I will lie down, I am lying down, I have lain down? It sounds weird to me. I admit I have no idea. I avoid using the different tenses of this word in writing. My parents never use this word correctly, so I never learned it either. Thank heavens I at least learned that "sandwich" is not pronounced "sow-winch" like it was in my native house-hold tongue.