East/West vs. Eastern/Western

Obviously, eastern/western cannot be used as nouns, whereas it seems that east/west , while usually utilized as nouns, can also serve as adjectives. For example, geographic regions in Europe are usually called "Eastern Europe," "Western Europe," e.g.; however, I have heard people say "East Europe," etc.

In the United States, one calls the two coasts the East and West Coasts, but never the Eastern or Western coasts. Is this more a matter of a title randomly becoming the norm, or is there a slight difference in the way the adjectives are being utilized in the instances of "Eastern Europe" vs. the "East Coast"? One possibility is that east & west are used when indicating extremes, not degrees, in regard to direction. Allow me to illustrate this: Eastern Europe refers to a region in which there are countries that vary in how east they are,whereas, in the U.S., all of the states which lie on the east/west coasts are pretty much aligned. For example, Poland is less east than Russia, but Oregon and California, two of the three states that make up the west coast, are along the same coastline. Therefore Poland and its respective Eastern European nations are relatively Eastern, whereas there is no question that New York and, say, Florida are precisely on the east coast.

Vartiation vs. Variant

Is there a difference between these two word brothers? I'm not sure. So far all I know is that 'variant' can be used as an adjective while 'variation' cannot. If in my research I find more information, I'll be sure to update this post.

Homophones

Homophones are words that while sounding the same (or almost identical), have different meanings and spellings (unlike homonyms, which have the same spelling and pronunciation but different definitions). Here is an interesting list of homophones, which I found on www.futilitycloset.com.

• AURAL means heard; ORAL means spoken.
• RAISE means erect; RAZE means tear down.
• SUCCOR means aid; SUCKER means hoodwink.
• ENUMERABLE means countable; INNUMERABLE means uncountable.
• ERUPT means burst out; IRRUPT means burst in.
• ERADICATE means pull up by the roots; IRRADICATE means root deeply.
• PETALLESS means lacking petals; PETALOUS means having petals.
• RECKLESS means careless; WRECKLESS means careful.

Source

All Intents (and Purposes)

It sounds snazzy, but is the phrase "all intents and purposes" redundant? "Intent" and "purpose" do not have precisely identical meanings, but in this particular usage I believe they do. Someone on WikiAnswers seems to agree with me and wrote the following in response to an inquiry regarding the idiom:
"If you have problems with to all intents and purposes bear in mind that in that expression intents is redundant."

Word Conundrum - In spite of vs. despite

From my brief Internet research, I've discovered that there is no difference in meaning between the word "despite" and the construction "in spite of."

Both mean "even though" or "irrespective of."

Here is an interesting blog on the topic: http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/despite-and-in-spite-of-a-grammatical-detective-story/

You're All Literally Killing Me

One of the most commonly misused words is literally. I don't think I can go one day without hearing someone use it incorrectly, and this always causes me to (literally) cringe. I understand that words evolve over time and that language, perhaps unfortunately, is democratic. But we already have a word that emphasizes the veracity of a statement, and it's a very simple one, too - 'actually.' Why should we be lazy and permissive and allow "literally", whose true meaning is very particular and therefore useful for speakers, to become something it's not? 'Literally' functions perfectly as a pair with 'figuratively,' and to misuse it dulls its potency.

In case you stumbled upon this blog while searching for the meaning of 'literally,' here is a brief tutorial:

Literally: (adverb) in a literal manner or sense. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'literal' means " using or interpreting words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory.

The opposite of 'literal' is 'figurative,' which means in a metaphorical sense.

Correct: You can't literally 'eat your words' - that's why it's called a figure of speech. Unless you made letter-shaped cakes, used them to form words and then proceeded to eat them.
Incorrect: She, like, literally slapped me when I called her an ugly skank!


I was concerned because dictionary.com now lists "virtually, in effect," as a definition for 'literally.' Although this left me disheartened, I was relieved to see that the reliable OED, while including the "without exaggeration" definition, also tagged it as "informal." The dumbed-down definition hasn't won...yet.

Regard/Regards

"In regards to..."

We hear or read that phrase so often, and so many of us probably think it's correct. But in fact use of regards in the construction "in regards to" is incorrect. The standard use is "in regard to."

"Regards" is acceptable when used as a noun, as in, "Give my regards to Broadway!"