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Showing posts from August, 2006

"Hosta" La Vista?

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Time for a little rant. Okay, I'm a word nerd. I like to use the right word in the right place and it bugs me when I come across words that have been used incorrectly. I do crosswords, sudokus, cryptograms, and other puzzles and it REALLY gets on my nerves when I find spelling or usage mistakes in those. So, last night I was working on a crossword in one of the Big John's Puzzle Books (which I like because the cultural references tend to be aimed at my baby boom generation) when I found two pet peeves in one crossword clue and had to give up out of frustration. The clue was something like "hearty plant." First of all, plants are "HARDY" -- as in able to survive in extreme conditions -- not "HEARTY" meaning jovial. Those words seem to be used interchangeably, especially by people who aren't avid gardeners and have simply misheard the word. But then when I wrote in the word "hosta" into the crossword spaces I realized it wouldn't wo