They look and sound intriguing, and unsettling, the nouns “horde” and “hoard”; similar in pronunciation but different in spelling. A glaring example of the blind spots in the language one should be mindful of. Just as I stated in my previous article, they are the banana peel we should be careful about in our attempt to communicate our ideas and put them on the public domain for all to savour. Just as one English purist observed, “The English language is full of words which, sometimes because they derive from same root and sometimes quite by chance, look or sound very similar to one another but have different meanings.”
According to the English master, people’s misuse of words has been the subject of comedy for centuries, and I add here, till date. Indeed, it is from the name of a literary character, Mrs. Malaprop, for those of you who read Sheridan’s play, “Rivals,” the expression, malapropism emerged, and became a household application. The dictionary recognises it; and as a modern term, meaning something ludicrous or an absurdity. There are wider range of blind spots, especially homophones that could be deceitful on the surface, words similar in form but different in meaning or in spelling.
We would focus our attention on the nouns, “horde” and “hoard,” and warned to be mindful of their spellings. They mean different things, though they sound the same, but different in spelling as well. It calls for vigilance and interrogation, in order not to fall easily to the temptation of misrepresentation. “Horde,” the one-syllable word which also has as its verb, “horded,” “hording,” is often used in a derogatory manner to mean a huge crowd or multitude, especially a noisy one.
A group of nomads, a migratory tribe; as we have it in the Fulani herdsmen, who are sacking and destroying villages, displacing the natives from their lands to graze their cattle. To come together to form a horde. The noun “horde” is exact opposite of the noun, “hoard,” similar in verbalisation, but different in meaning or spelling. It’s instructive to exercise patience when we are confronted with words that sound the same and do the necessary checks before we published.
There is avalanche of reference books to help us track the correct vocabulary. Again, the dictionary interprets the one-syllable word, “hoard,” as a store of money, food or treasure, usually hidden away for use in future. Recall the Covid 19 palliatives that were stored away in warehouses from public view until the bubble bursts. What a crying shame that was abominably displayed by some fellows in charge of distributing them to starving Nigerians! Where are they today? Now that you know the difference between the nouns, “horde” and “hoard,” use them appropriately to tell your story. But then, for people who are still struggling with words that sound the same, but different in meaning or spelling, the secret to success is to look up the words in the dictionary and compare.
Go with the one you intend to engage that would carry or convey your thoughts unambiguously. I leave you with yet, another pronunciation test. Sample this word; “sycophant.” The three-syllable word and noun, “sycophant,” is often badly or wrongly pronounced by the majority of users of the language. Here they don’t care about oral English and correct vocalisation of words. If any, at all, it is in the breach, the language experts observed. Even the media that contributes the larger percentage of vocabularies people copy, the broadcast media in particular, are the guilty ones here. They promote the language through the News and other talk shows. The correct pronunciation of the noun, “sycophant” is “sikofant,” not “saikofant” as many people do.
