 |  | Welcome again to "Language Corner" - the column where we provide you with useful & interesting tidbits from the English language.
In dieser Ausgabe untersuchen wir einige Wortpaare, die aufgrund ihrer Ähnlichkeit häufig verwirrend sein können:
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cook and cooker
One is the person who cooks and the other is the stove that food is cooked on. But which is which...?
- He was such a good cook (Koch). When I ate his lasagne I thought I was in Italy.
- I forgot to turn off the cooker (Herd), it was on all night!
By the way, another word for cook (Koch) in English is "chef" . Don't confuse this with the German word "Chef" which means "boss" in English!
dessert and desert
One is an area of very dry land, the other is the sweet food served at the end of a meal. Do you know which is which?
- I had delicious tiramisu for dessert.
- He spent a week in the hot desert and got burnt really badly
complement and compliment
Something which goes well with something else is said to complement it. For example:
- Baked beans complement bacon and eggs perfectly (for an Englishman anyway)
Compliment, on the other hand, is something you should make to your partner regularly: - He said I looked beautiful in my new shoes. It was a lovely compliment
personal and personnel
Dieses Wortpaar wird sehr häufig verwechselt. Manchmal auch von "native speakers"! Personal (die erste Silbe "PER" wird betont) bezieht sich auf persönliche Sachen wobei personnel (die letzte Silbe "NEL" wird betont) ist dasselbe wie dem Deutschen Personal - also Mitarbeiter:
- I don't like to talk about my personal life
- I'm being mobbed by my colleagues. I'm going to the personnel department to complain!
Hätten Sie es gewusst? Falls Sie sich für andere verwirrende Wortpaare interessieren können Sie mir gerne wie immer eine E-Mail senden, ich werde Ihnen dann weitere Beispiele zusenden. Toodle pip!
Ihr Alan Connor
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