Common_Errors_in_English_usage

MEDIOCRE
Although some dictionaries accept the meaning of this word as "medium"
or "average," in fact its connotations are almost always more negative.
When something is distinctly not as good as it could be, it is mediocre.
If you want to say that you are an average student, don't proclaim
yourself mediocre, or you'll convey a worse impression of yourself than
you intend.
MEDIUM/MEDIAN
That strip of grass separating the lanes going opposite directions in
the middle of a freeway is a median. But if you're trying to achieve a
balance between extremes, you're trying to strike a happy medium.
MEMORIUM/MEMORIAM
The correct spelling of the Latin phrase is "in memoriam."
METHODOLOGY/METHOD
A fondness for big words isn't always accompanied by the knowledge of
their proper use. Methodology is about the methods of doing something;
it is not the methods themselves. It is both pretentious and erroneous
to write "The architect is trying to determine a methodology for
reinforcing the foundation now that the hotel on top of it has begun to
sink."
MFR./MFG.
"Mfr." is the abbreviation for "manufacturer" and "mfg." is the
abbreviation for "manufacturing." Acme Mfg. Co. is a mfr. of roadrunner
traps.
MIC/MIKE
Until very recently the casual term for a microphone was "mike," not
"mic." Young people now mostly imitate the technicians who prefer the
shorter "mic" label on their soundboards, but it looks distinctly odd to
those used to the traditional term. There are no other words in English
in which "­ic" is pronounced to rhyme with "bike"­­that's the reason for
the traditional "mike" spelling in the first place. Although the new
spelling has largely triumphed in casual usage, editors may ask you to
use the older spelling in publication.
MIDRIFT/MIDRIFF
"Midriff" derives from "mid­" and a very old word for the belly.
Fashions which bare the belly expose the midriff. People think of the
gap being created by scanty tops and bottoms as a rift, and mistakenly
call it a "midrift" instead. In earlier centuries, before belly­baring
was in, the midriff was also the piece of cloth which covered the area.