Sole & Soul

On the left, homonyms: sole, sole, and sole – the bottom of a foot or shoe, the fish, and the last remaining item.
On the right, their homophone: soul – something/someone's inner spirit or essence.

Threw & Through

Threw – Past tense of "throw."
Through – In one end and out the other. Also, to complete a task. So, in the picture, the ball goes through the net, and the game is through as the clock runs out.

Facebook misspellings

I was going to ask you all an important question today, but instead I ran across this great link – on Facebook, of course – and had to share it with you:

the-best-obnoxious-responses-to-misspellings-on-facebook

Funny, yes. But I will ask, do you think correcting spelling is worth it in a context like this? Does it devalue your opinion by taking issue with a person's spelling instead of their meaning? Does pointing out their misspelling devalue their opinion? Is it worth clarifying a post, if you come off like a jerk?

"Pedal" amendment

How embarrassing! I have to come clean: the Pedal & Petal post a couple weeks ago was incomplete.
Apparently spending time outside on the bike and in the garden made the overwhelming presence of capitalism slip my mind. So, to make amends, here is the complete homophone set – Pedal, Peddle, and Petal. Sorry about that!

Hangar & Hanger

Twitter and language

Hey, what if we widen the scope of this blog a bit, to include some general linguistic discussion every so often? Interested? (Or should I just stick to the illustrations?)

To kick it off, a Facebook friend posted a link to this great video of Stephen Fry discussing, among other things, how Twitter fits into the historical continuum of written communication. (Of course, frankly, he could talk about beige carpet and I'd still find it fascinating.) Now I pass it along to you:

So what's your take on it?
What are your thoughts about texting and other abbreviated forms of writing, and their impact on language?

Peace & Piece

Pedal & Petal

All this spring weather has me thinking of bikes and flowers... in a homophony way, of course.