Thursday 13--Check Yourself!!

Well folks, it's Thursday again. With all the Jane Austen reading I've been doing lately, my vocabulary is growing immensely. This week, no list of wonderfully almost obsolete words for your perusal. This week: a list of words and phrases to check when you're typing up your blog post or leaving a comment for a fellow blogger. We all do it. Whether from being distracted, trying to use a word bigger than we know or cold fingers--all are guilty. Feel free to add your own misused words and or phrases in the comment box. I may use them next week!!

1. peek: to look or glance quickly or furtively
   
2. peak: the pointed top of anything
   
3. pique: to excite interest, curiosity, etc; to affect with sharp irritation or resentment
   
4. complement: to go well with something else
   
5. compliment: to praise
   
6. its/it's: the first is a possessive pronoun; the second is a contraction for it is
   
7. excess/access: the first means you have too (see number 8) much of something; the second means you have the ability to enter
   
8. too/two/to: to an excessive degree (too many Os in this word); the number 2; a preposition
   
9. masseuse/masseur: yes, it matters; a masseuse is a female massage therapist--a masseur is a male massage therapist!!
   
10. loose/lose: loose is the opposite of tight. Lose is the opposite of win
    
11. who's/whose: The first is a contraction for who is. The second is a possessive pronoun.
12. chest of drawers: don't say chester drawers. I always wondered what a chester drawer really was. Oh yes, I was guilty of these for the first 15 or 16 years of my life!!
13. Couldn't care less: make it a negative. It's not an insult if you say: I could care less.
    

Be sure to check out the great sources below. Highly entertaining and factual, you won't be disappointed. As well, take a look at other Thursday 13 lists.

Source: A Writer's Reference, Diana Hacker

Source: Internet Slang Dictionary & Translator