Not a bear

8659175fed4bc60bf730a2e255ac6131It’s true.

Koalas are not bears.

They are marsupials. They carry their young in their pouches, just like kangaroos, wombats, and the Tasmanian devil. (Betcha didn’t know that last one either, did you?)

So the next time you refer to koalas, just call them koalas and not koala bears.

Ingenious vs. ingenuous

Look carefully at the words ingenious and ingenuous. Do you know the difference? Both are adjectives, but they have completely different meanings and are also pronounced differently.

ingenious – having genius; brilliant; original and imaginative

ingenuous – lacking sophistication; straightforward; artless; naive; candid

Imply vs. infer

I occasionally see imply and infer used as if they mean the same thing. They do not.

To imply is to signify or mean; to suggest without being explicitly stated. Synonyms are assume and include. “Jill implied that Jack lied about tripping and falling down the hill.”

To infer is to derive by reasoning, to conclude or judge from the evidence. Synonyms include deduce, reason, guess, speculate, surmise. “Jack inferred that Jill did not trust him.”