Grammar Nazi Confesses

It’s confession time for the Grammar Nazi.

I’ve hoist myself by my own petard before, of course, but even for a Grammar Nazi’ it’s good to stay humble.

Another bugaboo of mine: ephemeral. I constantly spell it “ephermal” or “ephemral” because – and my hackles rise when I see others do this – I base my incorrect spelling on an incorrect pronunciation.

The first example isn’t one I say, but it’s how my brain, for some reason, remembers the word. The second is how I have been saying the word.

No longer. After several instances of using the word, and wanting to use it correctly, I’ve broken the habit of misspelling and mispronouncing this word. I did that by getting all the syllables in: e-phem-er-al. Saying it that way in my head, slowly, deliberately, has gotten me over the hump. And now whenever I need to type the word, it’s there, ready to go, in its perfect form.

Here’s to hoping that my conquering of this beast isn’t fleeting, or, shall I say, ephemeral.