Disaffected: I hate the words affect and effect

Posted on March 22, 2006 by Bill Wren

I always mix them up. Even though I know the difference, I mix them up. Actually, it’s my fingers that do. My brain knows the difference. The fingers do not. The difference between brains and fingers is brains care, fingers don’t.

The effect is misused words. The affect is to get me slapping my head afterwards when I realize I’ve got the two mixed up again. Wait a second … maybe that’s not right. The effect is that I’m affected in such a way that I end up slapping my head.

Oh, I dunno. It’s all very confusing.

It drives me crazy. I erred again last week. I read something I had written and published last week and as I was going merrily along admiring my mastery of language I suddenly saw something like, “The affect was a welling of tears in the sad ma’ns eyes.” Something like that. And even as I write that, some part of me is going, “Are you sure that’s wrong? Maybe that’s right.”

Did I write above that I knew the difference? I don’t know. I probably never did.

I hate these two words. Who dreamed them up? Who do we write to in order to complain?

These words are a balls-up looking for a place to happen. And more often than not, they find that place.

About Bill Wren

Writer, editor, social media practitioner and observer of how and where people connect and engage online.
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  • http://www.jackslyde.com/ Jack Slyde

    I just went through my entire finished ms looking at those two words, and by the time I was finished, I thought to myself, I’d better check again. Maybe somebody should simplify the english language.

  • http://www.jackslyde.com Jack Slyde

    I just went through my entire finished ms looking at those two words, and by the time I was finished, I thought to myself, I’d better check again. Maybe somebody should simplify the english language.

  • http://elevenpointfive.blogspot.com/ Spinner

    I always tell my students that if you CAN put “the” in front of it, it is “effect”… Then the two E’s are side by side: thE Effect.

    Of course, they don’t yet know that affect can be a noun as well. As in, her AFFECT showed that she was unenthusiastic.

    But we rarely use that word, so it’s oK.

  • http://elevenpointfive.blogspot.com Spinner

    I always tell my students that if you CAN put “the” in front of it, it is “effect”… Then the two E’s are side by side: thE Effect.

    Of course, they don’t yet know that affect can be a noun as well. As in, her AFFECT showed that she was unenthusiastic.

    But we rarely use that word, so it’s oK.

  • http://writelife.net/ Bill

    It’s good to know I’m not alone. And I’ll have to try that “the” trick.

  • http://writelife.net Bill

    It’s good to know I’m not alone. And I’ll have to try that “the” trick.