Confused typists

[roadrunnertwice]

Something I've been seeing more and more lately is people getting "reign" and "rein" confused. The trend seems to be among writers who don't have frequent occasion to use either word independently, but who use figures of speech or cliched metaphors involving reins. I think the rationale is that adding a "g" makes everything more legit. Hence, you get weird and fucked-up imagery like "loosening the reigns."

This has got to be exacerbated by the fact that both words are about controlling things. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of these mix-ups.

Comments

[unrendered.livejournal.com]

The horses aren't the only ones to fear this rein of terror.

[roadrunnertwice]

Hmm! Now that I think about it, the last six years or so have demonstrated that terror does, in fact, make a very effective set of reins. Maybe these befuddled souls are on to something!

[unrendered.livejournal.com]

Those are surely words of wisdom, from confused typists to typed Confucius, in one swell fwoop.

[roadrunnertwice]

*dies*