Difference between revisions of "Sceptic - septic"
From Hull AWE
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
:'''Septic''' and its relations are pronounced as they look, with a simple ‘s-’ at the beginning. So they are different from the '''sceptic''' family, in spelling and pronunciation. Don’t, as many undergraduates have done, confuse them. | :'''Septic''' and its relations are pronounced as they look, with a simple ‘s-’ at the beginning. So they are different from the '''sceptic''' family, in spelling and pronunciation. Don’t, as many undergraduates have done, confuse them. | ||
| + | [[Category:Malapropisms]] [[Category:Usage]] | ||
Revision as of 12:38, 12 February 2007
Sceptic is a term basically of philosophy. Septic is basically used in medicine and other biological sciences. (In US English, sceptic is spelled with a ‘-k-’ – skeptic.)
- A sceptic, in general English, is someone who tests the truth of everything, and is not inclined to believe things easily. Technically, in the academic subject of Philosophy, a Sceptic is “a follower of the school of Pyrrho and his successorsâ€, (Chambers) or various possible related terms. sceptic is usually a noun; nowadays, the usual adjective is sceptical. The American English spelling skeptic is logical, helpful – and unacceptable, in Britain.
- Sceptic – and all other related words, like sceptical and scepticism – is pronounced with the first two consonants clearly enunciated: ‘SKEPtic’. It sounds like ‘school’, not ‘scene’.
- Septic, on the other hand, is virtually always an adjective. Its basic meaning is ‘infected’ or ‘poisonous’ in a particular way. If you scratch your hand and do not wash the place, it may turn septic: that is, it may be painful, ooze yellow or white matter, and eventually poison your blood. The abstract noun that names the phenomenon is sepsis; control of the infection is asepsis, and a nurse should take aseptic or antiseptic measures.
- Septic and its relations are pronounced as they look, with a simple ‘s-’ at the beginning. So they are different from the sceptic family, in spelling and pronunciation. Don’t, as many undergraduates have done, confuse them.
