amber black

Council vs. Counsel (and Councilor vs. Counselor)

Luckily, it’s unlikely to get caught mistaking council and counsel in conversation. Ah, glorious homonyms!

The downside to homonyms, however, is that getting them right when it matters is elusive. This is in part because you don’t have to distinguish between alternatives in everyday use, and also because spell-check won’t correct misuse. So it’s all on you to get it right. For many of us this spells danger.

Of course no one cares if you misspell words when commenting on blogs or txtng ur bff. But if you’re writing a report for your boss? Well, it’s probably better to not draw negative attention to yourself.

Council and counsel are particularly troublesome because while we don’t write them much in everyday digi-correspondance, they pop up in work-related writing relatively frequently. So make a special effort to use/spell it correctly when it counts.

Simplistically,

  • Council with “ci” is a group that administrates (a noun).
  • Counsel with “se” is either advice (the noun) or to advise (the verb).

A related distinction of equal importance is between councilor and counselor.

  • A Councilor is a member of a council.
  • A Counselor is a person giving advice.

I’ve never heard an easy way to remember this, but I’m throwing this one out there for scrutiny.

Perhaps we can remember by way of councilor/counselor; councilors (“ci”) govern [ci]vilians, while counselors (“se”) [se]ll their services to people who need them.

As with all tricky words and usages, the easiest thing is just to remember that council and counsel are easily mistaken, and to double check yourself when it matters.

Does anyone have a better way that they remember the difference in usage/spelling between counsel and council? I’m sure this can’t be the easiest way…

 

Comments

  1. I drop a comment each time I especially enjoy a article on a website or if I have something to valuable to contribute to the discussion. It’s a result of the sincerness communicated in the article I looked at.

    And on this post Council vs. Counsel (and Councilor vs. Counselor).
    I was actually moved enough to leave a commenta response 🙂 I do have a couple
    of questions for you if you don’t mind. Is it simply me or does it
    look like some of the remarks come across as if they are written by brain dead visitors?
    😛 And, if you are posting at other social sites, I’d like to keep up with anything fresh you
    have to post. Would you make a list the complete urls
    of all your social sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
    cual es el mejor robot aspirador recently posted..cual es el mejor robot aspirador

    Reply

  5. Here is a trick:
    sel n
    1.room, great hall, (large) house, castle Heorot, sincfāge sel‎ ― Heorot, richly adorned hall.
    The trick: Only the rich could afford a large (sel) house or castle. From Latin con can mean ‘with’. ‘With’ consel he was given advice about when to sell. Consel: advice.
    Old French-English spelling Consel. Modern English spelling counsel. Adds the ‘u’ as a break from French rules. Many don’t know French was the old official language of England.
    Enjoy.

    Reply

  6. Hello everyone, it’s my first pay a visit at this web page,
    and post is genuinely fruitful in support of me, keep up posting such articles or reviews.
    Trudy recently posted..Trudy

    Reply

  12. Great, helpful article. This is exactly what I was looking for. Most of the other comments on this post are so strange…they seem like advertisements.

    Reply

  14. Wonderful blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers?
    I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
    Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so
    many choices out there that I’m totally confused .. Any suggestions?
    Thanks!
    altavoces inalambricos buenos recently posted..altavoces inalambricos buenos

    Reply

  15. I appreciate the help with this frequent brain spasm I have 😉 I am by NO means saying that this is the easiest way to remember it either as you previously stated, although the suggestion given is likely to jump out at me next time I search for this particular discernment, another way that came to mind that I hope will help solidify it, if not for my brain perhaps someone else’s :-), could also be : (Ci)ty Coun(ci)l & Coun(se)l or coun(se)lor helps to (Se)ttle personal matters, affairs or what have you! Like I said, that was just another suggestion. Hope that helps someone. Thanks again for the confirmation,( or for the counsel, and helping me SEttle that little confusion, haha)! Keep up the good work!

    Reply

    • After I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the exact same comment.

      There has to be a way you are able to remove me from
      that service? Thank you!
      pink sheets recently posted..pink sheets

      Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *