Friday, December 25, 2015

poinsetta/poinsettia: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, December 25, 2015

poinsetta/poinsettia 
Those showy plants that appear in the stores around Christmas are “poinsettias,” named after American diplomat John R. Poinsett who introduced them into the US from Mexico. The Latin ending “-ia” is seldom pronounced as spelled, but that’s no justification for misspelling the word as “poinsetta.”












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This week's podcast: The Solstice and Celestial Terms.

End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.

This is the ten-year anniversary of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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