What Is a Solecism?

Wondrous Words Wednesday

I’m in the middle of editing my YA manuscript for the ninth time. You read that correctly, ninth. The publishing dream isn’t for wimps. Anyway, Microsoft Word keeps telling me that “awhile” isn’t grammatically correct, so I decided to research the topic. In the process, I came across the term “solecism”.

If you’d like to learn more interesting terms, visit Kathy and her friends for the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme. You can share a new word you’ve learned or one of your favorites.

When I looked up “awhile” in Websters, I found this:

Although considered a solecism by many commentators, awhile is often used in place of a while.

Of course, then I had to figure out what a solecism is.

Solecism \’sä-lǝ-si-zǝm\ noun from the Greek soloikos, speaking incorrectly; literally, inhabitant of Soloi, city in ancient Cilicia where a substandard form of Attic was spoken.

  • A mistake in speech or writing
  • An impolite or improper way of behaving

 

Word Nerd Workout

Can you think of another example of a solecism? The one I see most often in texts and social media is using “your” instead of “you’re”.

Your the best!wondrous meme

And come back on Friday, when I’ll tell you what Grammar Girl said about the difference between awhile and a while.

Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!

Julia

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

10 Comments

  1. Hi Julia,

    This is one example of a solecism that I have seen written, just this week

    “I know whom is responsible” ~ solecism
    “I know who is responsible” ~ correct

    I found a great piece, over at dictionary.com, which does actually make it very clear in straightforward terms that awhile and a while, are both grammatically correct if used in the right context, as they have distinct and different meanings.

    http://blog.dictionary.com/word-fact-whats-the-difference-between-a-while-and-awhile/

    Likewise alright and all right, are both acceptable ways of saying and spelling the same thing, depending on whether the situation is formal or informal!

    Personally, given the horrendous new words which have been added to the scrabble dictionary this week and the text speak which is now okay to be used in daily conversation, I don’t think that our one or two transgressions are going to amount to whole can of beans!

    Thanks for a fun and interesting post and by the way — I did know what a solecism was 🙂

    Yvonne

  2. I think I have seen this word before and looked it up myself. I have a problem with the misuse of all forms of its, their, and your. I know that alright is becoming acceptable, only because I don’t get the red line! I recently installed Grammarly, which spell checks my comments and blog posts, but it seems to be in love with the dash and wants to put it in all sorts of words.

  3. This is one I definitely didn’t know. I had a vague impression that the word meant some kind of logical error, not a grammatical one.

    One that bugs me is alot — used as a single word — and alright — also used as a single world. (Although I note that I got a red underline for alot but not for alright, which suggests that this shortened version of all right is becoming accepted. But it really bugs me.)

  4. Intriguing. The incorrect use of its vs it’s drives me batty 🙂

    As for editing your book for the ninth time, I hear you! How is it going. Writing a book is definitely NOT for wimps – I believe in you!

    1. Thanks Amy. It’s going well. I feel good about the revisions… your critique really helped. Will keep you posted. And how are things on your front?

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