I Assure You, Your Interest Was Not Peaked
I received a note this morning from someone who was interested in advertising on my CabinManagers site because what he saw “…peaked my interest in investigating a possible collaboration between us.”
Immediately, I smiled to myself because I realized that he had used peaked instead of the correct spelling, piqued.
Pique is actually a French word which means to prick. Specifically, Merriam-Webster gives the following definitions for pique:
1 : to arouse anger or resentment in : IRRITATE <what piques linguistic conservatives — T. H. Middleton>
2 a : to excite or arouse especially by a provocation, challenge, or rebuff <sly remarks to pique their curiosity> b : PRIDE <he piques himself on his skill as a cook>
I’m certain that I did not provoke this guy to contact me because he was bothered by something that he read. Rather, his interest was stirred which is a better word to use in this situation.
As far as correcting his mistake, I’ll be gracious and overlook it. Besides, why embarrass a possible advertiser by bringing along the grammar police? At least he didn’t write peeked.
Thanks for pointing out a common grammar error. I find myself making this type of error when I’m tired. (Although, it was not me who contacted you. Just for the record.)
That’s when it happens for me, too, Laura. I try to save my major proofreading for when I’m well rested and alert. Not at some awful morning hour (like now) when my brain cells are just getting out of bed!
I see this error often - have even seen it a couple of times on writer’s blogs!
this is the reason why we should always proofread what we write first before hitting the enter key. btw, thank you, i learned something new today. =)
Je connais le mot “pique” ca cest un mot francais, Merci pour l’information en anglais
I know what you mean, Matt.
Yesterday I received an email from the Business Development Manager of a certain company. She had contacted me about a piece I had written on one of my blogs, asking if they could post it on their website. She sent along their “standard contract” (her term) that she said set forth all the details about what rights they wanted to buy. She noted that the contract specified that I would continue to own the “copywrite.” Sure enough, that was how it was spelled on the contract as well!
Gaak.
I declined the offer.
Nice to understand another French word. I’d like to learn French actually. I just don’t have the time to fit it in.
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Lillie: I’ve misused pique previously myself. Not spelling it incorrectly, but in a tamer way.
Best: Or, make the correction when an error becomes known!
Hid: Vous êtes les bienvenus!
Bobbie: Copyright v. copywrite — that has to be the most significant grammatical error of our day. I wonder how long this has been in her contract?!
Natalie: Je sais ce que vous voulez dire! I would prefer to learn French v. Spanish, but then I would have no opportunity to use it — I haven’t met a French speaker here in the Carolinas yet!
LOL….a sense of humor and a provacative website…well done…did i spell provacative right????lol
thnx
mike
Hi Mike! Nope, it is provocative. Anyway, I’m not here to play the spelling or grammar police — rather, to have some fun in the midst of my daily writing chores.