Which is Which?

Okay, we have two definitions here, and two words. Fourth panel. Which word goes with which definition?

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This error is so common, you probably won’t get the joke at first, except maybe for the hint in the post’s title.

Second panel. The teacher is deliberately (I assume) repeating the student’s incongruity in the first panel.

Unique is an absolute. It means “one of a kind,” period, so modifiers like ‘somewhat,’ ‘more or less,’ and so on, are semantically incorrect. Get it now?

Okay, “may” refers to permission, “can” refers to ability. But you know that, right?

Two comments:

• I rather suspect the teacher actually knew whether the kid was able to go to the bathroom.
• The most common error with the use of “may” is that “may” is used as a replacement for “might.”

First, the good one. Last panel.

A hyphenated one no less!

The other neologism I thought of myself: typewriterism. A typewriterism is is something you do on a typewriter that you shouldn’t do in a word processor, such as putting two spaces after a period or making an exclamation point by typing period,backspace,apostrophe.

Not that you can tell someone’s spelling in a spoken conversation…

Hmm. I think I’ve mentioned “alright” before. The kid is correct, even though it might be a losing battle.