(no subject)

[remindmeofthe]

THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

DISCREET: Subtle, careful, under the radar. She discreetly pushed her bra strap back under her shirt. (Is it possible to do this discreetly? I haven't figured out how. But I digress.)

DISCRETE: Separate and individual. I will steal Merriam-Webster's example because I have way less practice using this in a sentence: There are several discrete sections to this vast medical complex, including a college of pharmacology and a research center.

If you need a trick to remember it, try thinking of the E's in "discrete" being two discrete units, separated as they are by the T.

Please. Stop making this mistake. It's almost as bad as loose/lose, and it is damn embarrassing to see when I know for a fact that the person doing it is too smart to get tripped up by homonyms HOMOPHONES see I'm not perfect either, nothing wrong with that.

That is all.

Comments

[littlestclouds.livejournal.com]

You know, somebody mixed these up in a fic I read the other day and it totally pulled me out of it but I've completely forgotten what fic/what fandom/etc.

Timely post!

[remindmeofthe.livejournal.com]

That may or may not be a coincidence.

I don't get as judgey with this as I do with lose/loose, though - as <lj user="supervillainess" observed above, "discrete" doesn't get a lot of use, so this mistake is a lot easier to make. It really is something that needs to be pointed out from time to time.

[littlestclouds.livejournal.com]

OH! *looks upthread* Yes. I feel slightly less crazy now.