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.













53 Comments
Okay, but what especially chaffs my hide is the high frequency of confusion between the proper spellings and usages of "led" versus "lead"!
But Piqued means to cause resentment.
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