According to MW: Top-10 Commonly-Confused Words, Vol. 2
Victor Steinbok
aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jun 12 23:41:20 UTC 2012
Perhaps hail/hale didn't make it to the top because 1) it's not common
enough and 2) almost no one cares. Is it anywhere on the list? I know
very few people who have any idea that this is even an issue.
VS-)
On 6/12/2012 5:32 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> #1: Flush Out/Flesh Out
>
> Question:
> To provide more details, should you _flush out_ or _flesh out_ your plan?
> Answer:
> flesh out
>
> For millions of BE-speakers, this is akin to
> Question:
> If you were a judge, would you _mete out_ or _meet out_ justice?
> Answer:
> mete out
>
>
> That is to say, _flush_ and _flesh_ fall together as [fl^S], hence the
> MW question is one of spelling and not of pronunciation for some
> speakers.
>
> --
> -Wilson
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