More commonly confused words.

Desert/ dessert.

A desert is a dry area with relatively few plants. Deserts usually have high temperatures and little rain. Dessert refers to sweet foods eaten at the end of a meal. In Thai English, sometimes the word desert appears when what is really meant is dessert. Since the spelling is only different by a single letter, the letter s, this is a common error. One way to remember how to spell dessert might be to tell yourself a little story that you like dessert so, so much that you have to spell the word with two letter s’s. Since a desert is a dry and sometimes lonely place, you can say that it would only have a solitary letter s, instead of offering the company of two letter s’s.

There are nine auspicious Thai desserts used in Buddhist rituals: Thong Yip, Thong Yot, Foi Thong, Thong Ek, Met Khanun, Cha Mongkut, Sane Chan, Khanom Chan, and Thuai Fu.

Desert island getaways tend to be either isolated or remote, so they don’t offer visitors many chances to get in touch with Thai culture.

Thailand was a desert during the mid-Cretaceous Period, palaeontologists tell us.

Thai desserts are typically easy, but messy, to make, such as sweet coconut and bean dessert.

Discreet/ discrete

The word discreet may describe people who do not draw attention to themselves. Discrete describes a separate part that is not attached to something else or the same as anything else.

Under the hood is a high-end ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 discrete 3D graphic card (with 512MB of graphic memory) for breathtakingly real visual effects.

Other than sharing common shareholders, Thailand’s CP Group is effectively discrete from the CP Group Indonesia.

It is only when the two cantilevers running from opposite directions meet in the middle, with the one keystone put in place connecting the two previously discrete structures, that all the stress and strain on the two unfinished edifices, as well as their oscillations, vanishes.

We are a relatively discreet label in fashion, and often our production is limited by the difficulty of our design processes, or the scarcity of materials used.

And with loan offers few and far between, they have to be discreet with their spending.

Listed companies are urged to be discreet in dealing with tainted individuals or firms.

One possible way to remember the different spellings of these two separate words is if you imagine the letter t separating the letter e’s in discrete, you may recall that discrete means separate, and not something that avoids drawing attention to itself.

Elicit/ illicit     

To elicit is a verb meaning to bring something out. An answer can be elicited by asking a question. The word illicit is an adjective meaning illegal or otherwise bad. To be sure about the difference between these two words, it is useful to think about what the word illicit looks like. Just as the word illegal means not legal, so the word illicit means not licit, which is an old-style word from the Latin meaning legal. Illegal and illicit both begin with the letters ill, which in this case means not. Not every word beginning with these letters means not something, for example the state of Illinois. Yet there are several other words which like illicit, begin with the letters ill and mean not something. They include:

Illegible

Illegitimate

Illiterate

and Illogical.

Thailand is ranked eighth by the volume of illicit outflows, just ahead of Indonesia and Nigeria, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The UN’s last assessment on the illicit production and trade in ATS, including ecstasy and methamphetamines, was published in 2008.

Several dealers who agreed to speak to the Brunei Times on the condition of anonymity said that selling illicit cigarettes was “easy money.”

The survey also found the top five most annoying things Thais do on the Net, namely using profanity, spreading false rumours, online game invites, trolling or posting offensive comments in order to elicit angry responses and sharing inappropriate content.

The poll by The Straits Times, together with members of the Asia News Network, elicited a range of responses from citizens of ASEAN on the formation of the AEC, which is due to come into being on December 31.

Yi’s artwork “Jangdokdae,” a set of six squat bronze figures of a friend’s family, elicits curious stares and amused looks from people walking around the historical Jeong-dong area.

One way to separate illicit from elicit in your mind is that if something is illicit, it often makes people ill. So some bad or illegal substance would naturally be described by a word beginning with the letters ill, just as illegal is.

Phase/faze

Phase is a noun meaning part of a process, or a stage that someone or something passes through. Faze is a verb meaning to upset or worry or frighten. It is usually used in the negative sense of not being fazed by something.

The third phase of the government’s new stimulus package is the most crucial for lifting the confidence of consumers and investors, said Kobsak Pootrakool, Bangkok Bank’s executive vice president for the international banking group.

Construction contract tendering for the second phase of the Suvarnabhumi Airport development could begin in the second half of this year as the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project is expected to be finalised before the end of this month.

Siam Commercial Bank president Yol Phokasub has laid out a vision for a “second phase” of the bank’s development, in a bid to escape from matured growth and to ride the digital trend.

Even the threat of hitting a tree doesn’t faze the veteran mountain bike rider; he describes it as “irritating.”

His lack of experience in modelling did not faze him; he believed that his mission to promote physical fitness was important.

All this talk about whether Thailand should legalise casinos doesn’t faze Tananya “Linla” Boonma, a very popular character on social media, who’s just opened an online casino in typically boisterous fashion.

In Thai English, when people mean to write faze, they sometimes write phase by mistake. Telling ourselves a little story may help here too, such as if we are bothered or frightened or upset by something, then our face shows how we feel. So when we are fazed by anything, our face shows it. Since faze begins with the letters fa, like face, we may recall the correct spelling of the verb.

Horde/Hoard

Horde is a noun referring to a large group or crowd of people. Hoard is also a noun, meaning something valuable that is often hidden from sight.

A large hoard of weapons was also found abandoned recently in Chon Buri.

Party member sues Malaysian premier over cash hoard.

After almost a week of inspections, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is preparing to report normal stockpiles of palm oil with the 10 major producers, after they were suspected of hoarding and causing supply shortage.

The family entered the polling station together to cast their ballot before quietly making their exit – all the while glancing curiously at the horde of journalists waiting for Suu Kyi’s arrival.

Also adding to the wonders of the third floor of the fully refurbished Siam Center, along with The Selected store, is The Wonder Room, whose recent grand opening drew a horde of well-heeled socialites.

We arrive late Friday, pop out of our hostel to admire the surroundings, and immediately get swept up in a horde of people.

It is difficult even for English writers to keep in mind the different spellings and meanings of the words horde and hoard. Possibly the best way is just to see the words as often as possible, by reading about discoveries of buried treasure, or hoards:

A Viking hoard discovered by an amateur metal detectorist could prompt the re-writing of English history.

Metal detector enthusiasts uncover more than 5000 ancient coins in Buckinghamshire, thought to be one of the biggest hoards found in the UK.

If we admire enough photos of these hoards in the press, then we may remember not to spell the word horde, when we mean hidden valuables.

(Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).