Curmudgeons' Corner

Curmudgeon Barb Dwyer is still alive and kicking

I am shocked by how often I see the verb pore written as pour.  To pore, the Oxford English Dictionary tells us, is to read or study earnestly or with steady application; to be absorbed in reading or study.  The verb is often used with over, as in the following: "She pored over books about the Wars of the Roses, absorbing every fact she could about that era in English history."  To pour over books, one needs something to pour!  Let's hope it's not flammable!

Have you heard or read similar or equally distressing usages?

Do tell us. 

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