Peak vs. Pique

Here's another writing pet peeve -- when folks confuse peak (or peek), and pique. Here's an example of proper usage: I live in Denver, Colorado, so I have a lovely view of the mountain peaks when I look to the West, but my interest is piqued when I find a good book about world history.

Instead, what I see most commonly is "this really peaked my interest," or "I thought this would peek your interest."

This doesn't trouble me too much when I see it on blogs, mailing lists, and so forth. I'm used to seeing language atrocities there... but it's just a different story when it's something from a communications professional, i.e., from a PR person.

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53 Comments

  1. Joel Cunningham
    Posted 2/25/2010 at 2:08 PM | Permalink

    Okay, but what especially chaffs my hide is the high frequency of confusion between the proper spellings and usages of "led" versus "lead"!

  2. Brianna S.
    Posted 3/4/2010 at 11:35 AM | Permalink

    But Piqued means to cause resentment.

  3. Wally Ford
    Posted 3/9/2010 at 9:25 PM | Permalink

    Brianna: NO! That is just one of the definitions and not the most common. The most common (as one may guess from the topic of the post by Mr. Brockheimer.

    What do I do about my friend who is always commenting on my Facebook posts, but misspelling words or using improper grammar? What led me here was her misspelling of "piqued" (as "peaked"). I don't want to permanently hide her, but I don't want to embarrass her either.

    Wally

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