Thursday, July 17, 2008

Concensus (for Consensus)

Thirty-nine hits in OhioLINK ranks Concensus as a "high probability" typo on the Ballard list, the reason apparently being the consensus among certain spellers that it contains the word census. In fact, the word consensus comes from the Latin word consent. Census is also a Latin word and means "registration of citizens," from censere, "to assess." (Image of the Census Bureau seal from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

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