People, please.
October 20, 2007 - 2:55 pm
“Discrete” means separate.
“Discreet” means quietly.
If you do something discretely, you do it one at a time. Unconnectedly. Apart.
If you do something discreetly, you do it unobtrusively. Circumspectly. Silently.
I don’t think I have seen ANYONE use the proper spelling for “discreet” in the last 4 years. Did they stop teaching vocabulary and spelling in schools? I’ve even seen posters on a forum dedicated to college professors consistently spell it “discrete.” Oy.
Along those lines, go to http://www.freerice.com/ and see how high you can get. I got as high as 47, which probably means that I should quit reading the OED for fun.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
“discrete” gets 57mil hits on google vs. 16mil for “discreet”. I blame bush and the news media.
Also, I got to level 1 on free rice. And #1 is awesomest. Right?