1. «Bohemia»

As a reaction to some non-standard action in show business, a characteristic sigh often follows: “M-yeah, bohemia”. In reality, it has nothing to do with bohemia. From French “Boheme”, this word literally translates as “gypsy”. It refers to the artistic intelligentsia environment that lives a disorderly and very insecure life. There is no hint of luxury or wealth in bohemia, and it has nothing to do with the elite.

2. «Quintessence»

The complexity of the word “quintessence” is not only in pronouncing it without stumbling on the first try, but also in using it in the appropriate place. It`s often used as a synonym for “combination”. But the true meaning of the word is “fifth element”, that is, some illusion, subtle matter.

3. «From 9:00 to 00:00»

Signs on cafe and restaurant doors state that the establishment operates from 9:00 to 24:00. Despite the fact that the establishment closes at midnight, it`s still more correct to write: “... to 00:00”.

4. «Business trip» and «on a business trip»

These similar words constantly make one think carefully before choosing the necessary adjective. So, only a person who goes on a service assignment can be on a business trip. But during the trip, they spend business trip money.

5. Catholic and Orthodox Christmas

These two Christmas definitions are meaningless because there can`t be 2 birthdays even for Jesus. Moreover, Tsarist Russia was an Orthodox country, but the holidays were celebrated on December 25. It`s not about religion, but about the old and new calendar styles. The calendar difference was 13 days. That`s why, according to the Gregorian calendar, Christmas is on January 7, but according to the Julian calendar - 2 weeks earlier.

6. «Bathroom»

Another pair of words that are easy to confuse. The word “bathroom” is added to the word “room”. So, a bathroom is a separate room in an apartment. But “bath” has nothing to add, because you can only sit in it and wash.

7. «Fetish»

Image

“Eating watermelon with salt is my fetish.” This phrase makes no sense unless you worship salt and are a secret adept of watermelon. A fetish is an inanimate object attributed with supernatural properties by believers and serving as an object of religious cult.

8. President of the country or government

Both in everyday speech and in official announcements, one sometimes hears: “Our country`s president.” However, the word “country” primarily denotes territory and people, its inhabitants, where the form of power can be any. Meanwhile, when speaking of the president, we mean the political organization of society with a specific government. In this case, it`s better to say exactly “Government president” or “Head of state”.

9. «Price tag» and «price»

Image

Recently, there`s a tendency to say “high-value price tag”, “acceptable price tag”, meaning price. The thing is, a price tag is a label/tag with the price written on it. And if it`s necessary to characterize the value of goods and services, it`s better to use the word “price”.

10. «Post» and «Repost»

When we share on our website on the internet, we make a repost. The English prefix “re-” already includes the Russian prefix “pere-”. Therefore, “to repost” is nothing but pleonasm, that is, the use of redundant words or parts thereof.

11. Digit or number 10

There are 10 digits in Latvian: from 0 to 9. Everything else - numbers.

12. To draw or to paint a picture

If it`s about paints, a picture is painted. If about a pencil or chalk, then drawn. Although in the latter case, it`s more likely a sketch. Therefore, one can confidently say that a picture as a full-fledged work of art is painted by an artist.

Do you often encounter words used in the wrong meaning or mispronounced? Do you correct your interlocutor or give them a chance to find out about their mistake later on their own?