Mixed Up Words
Terry Odell

Image by Наталия Когут from Pixabay

Judging from some recent posts, it’s looking like we all need a break from what’s happening around us. I thought I’d follow in the footsteps of Debbie’s mondegreens, Elaine’s eggcorns, and and JSB’s bloopers with a little more fun with words—although I’m sure they weren’t fun for the authors who made the mistakes.

These errors are from the spectrum of publishing—from indie to major publishing house authors. Whether or not some of these were typos on the part of the author and missed in editing, or whether the author didn’t know the correct word doesn’t really matter. However, given editorial passes these days are often far fewer than in the past, it behooves the author to get as much right as possible, and not hope an editor will find and fix errors. Sometimes it’s the little things that get overlooked, such as a NYT best-selling author having “That to” instead of “That, too.” (and there are different house style for the comma, but that’s not the error.)

Below are examples. Spellcheck wouldn’t have flagged any of them. Do you recognize these vocabulary errors? I’m sure you do. Why didn’t the editors?

1. Rowdy little hoard
2. His jacket was pealed back
3. The car pealed away from the curb
4. He’s cooling his heals in the lockup
5. A single star shown brighter than any other
6. The plain of his abdomen
7. Ran her fingers down his chest toward his naval
8. The bullet had come to rest against the seventh vertebrae
9. Emerged like a breach birth
10. “You saved his life today. He’ll probably give you an accommodation or something.”
11. “The state trooper gave the children law enforcement’s universal anecdote: orange juice and candy bars.”
12. He was injured trying to diffuse the bomb.
13. She poured over the pages of the book.
14. She peddled her bike down the sidewalk
15. He waited with baited breath.
16. He knocked on the door jam before entering the room.

And, one I didn’t learn until a reader (not my editor) pointed it out: discrete vs discreet.

What errors have you found in recent reading? The floor is yours.

My new Mystery Romance, Heather’s Chase, is now available at most e-book channels. and in print from Amazon.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.” Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.