Tuesday, July 1, 2008

stationery? stationary?

Total pet peeve of mine!! Does anyone else feel my pain {visibly cringe when you see paper referred to as stationARY}? Finally LaFamilia Green gives my peeve validation!

And for today's lesson, check it out ... direct from Webster's:
stationary |ˈstā sh əˌnerē|
adjective
not moving or not intended to be moved : a car collided with a stationary vehicle.
• Astronomy (of a planet) having no apparent motion in longitude.
• not changing in quantity or condition : a stationary population.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin stationarius (originally in the sense [belonging to a military station] ), from station- ‘standing’ (see station ).
USAGE Be careful to distinguish stationary ('not moving, fixed') from stationery ('writing paper and other supplies').

stationery |ˈstā sh əˌnerē|
noun
writing paper, esp. with matching envelopes.
• writing and other office materials.
USAGE See usage at stationary.

Even worse? Come NSS time, I'm invited by stationARY companies to come see their wares. They spend thousands on postcards, booths, catalogs and spell stationery wrong. That makes me sad ...

{And on the European stationery front? I finally spotted "Il Papiro" as we were whizzing by in a taxi! I did my best with my direction dyslexic self to take note of my location ... if all goes according to plan, I may try to get there within the next day or so!}

2 comments:

e @ theSCOOP said...

I'm totally in love with you right now, Tracie!... this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine - (I can totally relate to the "visibly cringing" part, too!)

Thank you, on behalf of all of us who are bothered by this oh-to-common mistake, for posting this ;)

I'll definitely be linking to your post & those awesome La Familia Green cards next week!

thanks again!

-e

SPARK LETTERPRESS said...

I just about fell off my chair when I saw this post. Huge pet peeve of mine as well. Thanks for making my day!