Depending upon the region of the country where you grew up, your choices for a beverage may be a Coke or a soda. Do both mean the same thing? It depends, and that is where speakers and copywriters get into trouble.
There are countless examples of words and phrases with regional and cultural definitions that make it super difficult for English Language Learners to keep up. Just talk to your pre-teen or teenage child and you’ll quickly learn that you speak different languages (Can you say drip?).
The situation is worsened when speakers and writers simply choose the wrong word or phrase, either out of simple confusion or because they don’t know any better. The example this week is Flesh Out vs. Flush Out.
If you’re a hunter, then this one is probably easier for you to keep straight. The visual of inviting dogs to “flush out” the quail cannot bring a clearer understanding to the concept of forcing something out of hiding and into the open. Police might choose to flush out the criminal from their hiding, an investigator might attempt to flush out the truth. It’s a pretty simple concept to grasp.
The correct meaning of to “flesh out” is not necessarily as apparent. A writer, whether professional or a student, may be invited by an editor or instructor to flesh out the details of a piece they have started or proposed. Have an approved outline? Flesh out the details of the paper. Started a wireframe? Flesh out the rest of the website. Drafted an article concept? Flesh out the remainder of the content.
This seems pretty clear on paper but when you mix them up it can be tragic. At least three times in the last week I’ve overheard individuals use flush out when they intended to use flesh out.
For folks who are not hunters or familiar with the concept of flushing quail, it is nice that we have such a common understanding of how “to flush” from our daily washroom visits. But that leaves the quandary of what our common and personal understanding of “flesh” has to do with “to flesh out.” And to that question linguists point to the parallel idea of an outline being a skeleton. When you add more information, you are adding flesh or meat to the bone (an idiom for another post). Neither of which are a pretty visual.
The point here being: be careful with the words you choose else you might make your writing less interesting if you were to flush out those details.
This blog was contributed by Jennifer Koon, Principal of Michael Mackenzie Communications.