'They're, there, their': A grammarian's mantra

I sometimes console myself by repeating "They're, there, their" when we make a goof in a headline, because those goofs stand out.

Such was the case Monday when we inadvertently substituted "they're" for "their" in a headline on the front of the sports section.

Arrieta a strong

send-off as Cubs

finally find they're

way back to Wrigley

A number of you wrote or called to make sure I knew about it. Thanks to readers Arlene Trunk, Tony Winter, Susan Pingel and a few others for pointing it out.

Another homophone

"I'm sure there was disturbance in your Force with Sunday's paper, specifically in a story on the murder suspect who, not once but twice, 'waived' to people," wrote reader Marion Blais of Palatine. "Spell check is more a curse than a blessing."

The word should have been "waved."

Some people charged with murder can "waive" an extradition hearing. But when they shake an open palm at others, they are "waving."

I agree with Marion. The reason I use so much of this space to write about homophones is that a spell check program won't tell you you're using the incorrect word.

Relying too much on a spell check program is akin to relying too much on a navigation program on your mobile phone.

Were there a massive and prolonged power outage, I fear, people who grew up after the birth of the internet would run around lost and incoherent. And unable to book an Uber ride.

Not quite right

While I'm on the topic, here is another collection of words that writers and speakers often don't differentiate.

• Pour/pore. To "pour" is to decant. You pour wine, you metaphorically pour your heart out.

To "pore" is to study something intently. You pore over the love letters of the girl who just stomped on your heart.

• Riffling/rifling. "Riffling" (with a soft I sound) is searching hurriedly through something. I was riffling through my sister's bedroom for her diary when she discovered me.

"Rifling" is the spiral grooves in a gun barrel that help a bullet to spin. The rifling on my sister's gun matched the markings on the slug doctors pulled out of my left buttock, proving that it was she who shot me.

• Distract/detract. To "distract" is to prevent someone from concentrating or to divert attention. The swelling music from the telenovela distracted me from reading my Sunday newspaper.

To "detract" is to diminish the value of something.

The smear of printer's ink on her cheek did not detract from her beauty.

Mea culpa

In last week's column I described two things as not being "one in the same."

Astute reader Jan Gollberg of Mount Prospect pointed out the proper phrase is "one and the same."

This is an eggcorn I routinely use. I'm not sure why it never seems to sink in.

It could be that "one in the same" makes some sense, just as "butt naked" does.

Is there an eggcorn in your lexicon (better call a doctor!) that you can't seem to shed? Tell me about it.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.