Populace vs. populous

[Bake]

I see these two words misused here so much that, as a public service, and without accusing anyone of being an idiot, here's the difference between the two words:

Populace is a noun. It means the masses, the common people, as in the population.

Populous is an adjective. It means densely populated. Therefore it is incorrect to refer to "the populous" unless it is followed by a noun (e.g., "the popular area of the country," etc.).

http://www.webster.com is your friend. Like Google. There is no excuse to misuse these two terms.

You're welcome.

Bake

[Deja Q]

1. Uh-oh. The grammar police will take your butt and turn it into a rump roast.

:scared:

Personally, I love the grammar police -- edification is rarely a bad thing.

And now I'm going to go to the bathroom and matriculate. I've read about this course on computer programming... it's good to read while knowing programming jobs are being flushed down the toilet.

[Bake]

3. Nah, Toad, you know I'm not the Grammar Police.

I rarely do this kind of thing. It's just when someone is so blatantly trying to sound erudite, but uses a word glaringly incorrectly, it is annoying. Words matter (as Obama said!), and it matters that we try to use them correctly.

Like I said, it's a public service. Perhaps someone doesn't KNOW the difference between the two terms. No they do.

:hi:

Bake

[NYC_SKP]

4. We'll with respect to proper grammatical form,

you may have meant to say, "And now I'm going to the bathroom to matriculate."

Or, you may have meant to say, "And now I'm going to the bathroom and I'm going to matriculate."

But from what you've written, it's quite unclear what you propose to do in the bathroom, precisely.

:hide:

[Berry Cool]

14. Not to me.

I would assume you were taking your laptop into your bathroom, where you had WiFi, and getting on the University of Phoenix Web site to register for a degree program.

[DevonRex]

2. Thank you. nt

[MrsBrady]

5. k&r

[Captain Hilts]

6. You're beautiful.

Then we'll work on 'loan' - a noun and 'lend' a verb.

[vanderBeth]

7. No, no- The difference between lend and borrow

I get mad when I see people use those interchangeably. :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[DevonRex]

8. I love it when I see other people who appreciate the English language

and want to use it correctly. I'm sure I make some errors of my own, but I want to be corrected when I do. I hope everyone takes your post the right way.

[Grateful for Hope]

12. It is usually a good thing to have an inadvertent error pointed out

but, when the reasoning behind a correction contains sentiments like "when someone is so blatantly trying to sound erudite", somehow, that correction can ring pretty hollow.

[DevonRex]

13. Hmm. Well. Yes, I see your point. nt

[DemBones DemBones]

9. May I add that it is "toe the line" and "per se"

NOT "tow the line" and "per say"?

It's also "martial law," not marshal law or Marshall law.

[Bake]

10. "Marshall" law really bugs me, too.

:hi:

Bake

[Igel]

11. "Precedence" vs. "precedents".

My recent pet peeve.

[sohndrsmith]

15. As a word junkie, I love posts like this, and don't take it personally

when I'm corrected (it's a great way to learn).

It'd be great if we had an active word/language forum. Oh, snap. Maybe we do... though "active" may not apply. Seems like most DUers go straight to the Lounge instead, because it IS active.

Words are great. The English language is insane and makes no sense. Still, I love it.... : )