tact: verbal restraint and consideration. “have some tact and don’t mention her ex this time, for crying out loud.”
tack: a sailing vessel’s movement in relation to a headwind, which means it has to zigzag back and forth in order to go forward; from that, a conversational or conceptual direction. “the flashcards aren’t working, let’s try a different tack, maybe make up some mnemonics.”
(there’s also, of course, the meanings ‘pointy thing halfway between a pin and a nail’ and ‘horse-riding gear’ but those don’t usually get confused with ‘tact’.)
bonus round!
intact: unbroken, undamaged. “cinnabar laquerware is delicate, so we were lucky to find the stolen vase intact.”
in tact: this isn’t a thing. knock it off.
in tack: please help me, i’m trapped inside of this small nail
i have not run across that one in the wild but uh
writers, if you don’t want the reader to visualize someone wearing a saddle and bridle… yeah.
If you see someone claiming that the United Kingdom has criminalized racism, this is what they’re referring to. They’re defending someone who tried to kill refugees en masse. Don’t be fooled by their lies, they want to claim persecution so badly, but they’re defending an attempted killer through and through.
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