Grammar annoyance of the week

[alexxkay]

People who use "diffuse" for "defuse". It's just barely possible that you meant "diffusing tensions" as a legitimate metaphor. "Diffuse the bomb", however, is almost certainly not what you meant to say. Rather the opposite, really; a failure to defuse a bomb will result in the rapid diffusion of the bomb's component bits.


(www.merriam-webster.com/)
diffuse
3 entries found.

Main Entry: 2 dif·fuse
Pronunciation: \di-ˈfyüz\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): dif·fused; dif·fus·ing
Etymology: Middle English diffused, past participle, from Latin diffusus, past participle
Date: 14th century

transitive verb
1 a: to pour out and permit or cause to spread freely b: extend, scatter c: to spread thinly or wastefully
2: to subject to diffusion; especially : to break up and distribute (incident light) by reflection

intransitive verb
1: to spread out or become transmitted especially by contact
2: to undergo diffusion


defuse

Main Entry: de·fuse
Pronunciation: \(ˌ)dē-ˈfyüz\
Function: transitive verb
Date: 1943

1 : to remove the fuse from (as a mine or bomb)
2 : to make less harmful, potent, or tense <defuse the crisis>

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Working as a Science Editor, we run into this one from time to time. The key is to remember that "diffuse" is what one liquid does in another, and "defuse" is a word that is not allowed in a Pearson book. We're also not allowed to create problems involving nuts, and if balls are ever mentioned, they cannot be blue.

...and if we're writing material for California, we can't talk about meat. It's quite sad.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I see by your icon that the bomb joke is not original with me :-)

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

...this is my Rogue icon, which I had spelled as "Rouge" for quite some time before I saw the spelling in the above icon and realized I'd transposed the letters. Spelling is not my strong suit, but I make an effort to get things right.

[kestrell.livejournal.com]

You *were* kidding about not being able to use the word "meat" when writing for a California audience, weren't you?

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

No, the Reviewer for CA sent back every question involving lunch meats, pizza toppings, etc. We weren't sure if she was just a militant vegetarian or if that was a California thing, so we just changed all the CA questions. I think it was an over-reaction, but we aren't allowed to talk about chocolate or soda pop either. Which is really annoying; a box of chocolates is a perfect example for a probability question.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

We're also not supposed to refer to "mother" or "father" for California classroom support material.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

At least you didn't get it wrong as part of the title of a book (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/003301.html#26087).

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

In fanfiction, we have the opposite problem. "They defused and hid."

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Without more context, that seems reasonable. After all, hiding won't be much help if you *haven't* defused the bomb first :-)

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

*nods*

One of my favorites is discreet/discrete. Particularly when someone says "Don't worry, I'll be discrete."

Yes, I certainly hope so!

[siderea]

I dunno. I'm pretty continuous, left to my own devices.

[metageek.livejournal.com]

You mean, sometimes there's 0.95 of you?

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they know a lot about bomb disposal. These days, a robot trundles up and moves the bomb to a safe location, where it is then detonated, if it hasn't already. So the bomb becomes diffused, one way or another.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

No! And here I thought all bombs had huge LEDs with easy-to-read numbers on the side counting off the minutes (With breaks for commercials and sub-plots) till they were set to explode.
Shucks.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

A memorable issue of The Incredible Hulk (written by Peter David) concluded with the heroes getting to the bomb with the huge LED showing several minutes left to deal with it. Cut to the Bad Guy going through his checklist of evil. Final item: "Lie about when bomb goes off," check. BOOM.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for defusing that to the populous. I would've said that if I would've thought of it. So I'm like "right!"