Hurdle & Hurtle

I know, I know, I said I wouldn't do homophones with The Lazy American T very often. Well, jeez, when's the last time I posted ANYTHING here, huh? I'd say this qualifies as "not very often." ;) 

Actually I saw someone make this mistake in print just the other day, and I couldn't get it out of my head, so here we are. Enjoy.

With a D – as a noun, it's a barrier to be overcome – as a verb, it's to leap over that barrier.

With a T – to move at great speed.

Decent, Descent, Dissent

I thought this might be a good one for today since Tuesday is election day here in the US. Two homophones, and a third word thrown in for good measure. While "decent" isn't pronounced the same as the other two, it is easily confused on the page. So I thought it was a good idea to include it here.

Decent (DEE-sent) – good, kind, caring
Descent (di-SENT) – moving downward
Dissent (di-SENT) – protest

Pride & Pried

-ide – (n.) feeling of accomplishment.
-ied – (v.) past tense of Pry.

Finish & Finnish

Misses & Mrs.

Not trying to be heteronormative here, just simplifying for visual clarity.

Root & Route

Root – (n.) The portion of a plant that anchors it to its surroundings and absorbs nutrients. (v.) Cheer.
Route – (n.) Path, direction.
Why do carrot farmers get lost in beet fields? Because they can't find their root.
...Meh, that joke sorta works.

For, Fore, Four

HW's 250th post! Just for you. Fantastic.

Foreword & Forward

Totally cribbing Afterward/Afterword for this one. Not even ashamed about it.
No, I mean I'm "keeping the blog's imagery consistent"!!! No shame in that!!!

Penance & Pennants

As in, "I feel guilty for even knowing that the World Series is on right now."

Beau & Bow

Verses & Versus

I know, I know. A rap battle would have been the perfect picture for both.

Bold & Bowled

Tell me honestly, would an image of the starship Enterprise have been better on the left?

Mantel & Mantle

-el – A covering, often decorative, surrounding a fireplace. A great place to hang socks full of chocolate.

-le – This one has a lot of definitions, including: the layer of the earth between the core and the crust, and apparently some kind of cape-like cloak. But it's also a verb that describes the very act of cloaking something or concealing it. So, technically, you mantle your fireplace with a mantel. So that's not confusing at all.

Happy holidays!

And, for the sports fans:

Bundt & Bunt

With a D – ring-shaped cake with ridges that make it easy to slice, but a pain in the ass to draw.
Without a D – gently hit a pitched baseball short and into the ground.

Missed & Mist

Is it just me, or is this blog full of people who are really bad at sports?

One & Won

In the Olympic spirit, we present:

Go, Jamaica!

Ball & Bawl

This must be the same crying kid from A parent & Apparent. Kid needs to shut up and ball, for real.

Afterward & Afterword

-ard – (adv.) time as it extends beyond the end of an event.
-ord – (n.) writing as it extends beyond the end of a story.

Golf & Gulf

What did the square root of sixteen shout while playing golf? "Four!"

An interesting side note on this one: the flags that mark the holes in golf are rectangular – but when people draw them for cartoons or whatever, they're ALWAYS triangular. Seriously, google "golf flag." Every photo that comes up will show a rectangular flag, but every cartoon/illustration will be a triangle. It's bizarre.

A parent & Apparent

Venturing into new territory today with a word whose homophone is made of two separate words. I know what you're thinking – from here it's only a short, slippery slope to "'scuse me while I kiss this guy." So I promise I'll tread carefully (though I may have to do that one some day; it's too hard to pass up the opportunity to draw a pictograph version of Jimi).