I'm on a neighborhood listserv, where neighbors send out lost dog emails, yard sale notices, or questions like "Is this your kitty who showed up on our porch?" The other day a really confusing one went out, saying the person wants to sell a bunch of stuff, including a "rod iron mirror." Only after I said it out loud did I come up with any idea of what the writer may have meant. Is it a wrought iron mirror like the one here that I found with Google's help? That's my guess. These pieces may look like they were originally rods of some sort, but "rod iron"? I'm astounded at how often people have no clue what they're talking about.
Let's look at the two words.
wrought ~ adjective ~ worked; produced or shaped by beating with a hammer, as iron or silver articles.
rod ~ noun ~a stick or staff of wood or metal; a fishing rod; a stick used for measuring.
One's an adjective, and the other is a noun. Not at all interchangeable.
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Cross-posted on
my word blog.
2 comments:
Love it! I recently learned that "flush it out" is incorrect and I really mean, "flesh" it out, right?
Either could be true, according to what you want to say. If you mean further develop what you started, then FLESH it out means adding substance to what you started "building" or saying (putting meat on the bones). On the other hand, a dog will FLUSH out a bird in the bush for the hunter, so that means showing something that was hidden.
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