Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: rein; reign (3).

rein; reign (3). Today: “reign supreme.” As further evidence of Murphy’s Law at work, the opposite error (‘rein’ for ‘reign’) occurs as well — e.g.: o “His rein [read ‘reign’] as Fort Meade’s tobacco-chewing, play-calling leader ended abruptly in September 1993.” Tom Ford, “Fort Meade’s Jamison Brings Stability, Nostalgia,” Tampa Trib., 1 Sept. 1995, at 2. o “Rarely do Oscar voters make the right choice for Best Foreign Language Film, and their reliably incorrect instincts reined [read ‘reigned’] supreme again earlier this year with the anointing of the peculiar Dutch import, ‘Character.'” David Baron, “‘Character’ Has Some Serious Flaws,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 29 May 1998, Lagniappe §, at 28. o “Confusion reined [read ‘reigned’] when everyone within a five-mile radius was asked to evacuate.” Cheryl Jane Kountze, “May 1976’s Deadly Fog,” Houston Chron., 4 Jan. 2003, at 35. Language-Change Index — “rein supreme”* misused for “reign supreme”: Stage 1. *Invariably inferior forms. ——————- Quotation of the Day: “‘Genuine creativity is characterized by an intensity of awareness, a heightened consciousness. . . . The creative act is an encounter characterized by a high degree of consciousness.'” Rollo May, “The Nature of Creativity,” Etc.: a Review of General Semantics, 264-265, 268 (1959) (as quoted in Richard L. Larson, “Discovery Through Questioning: A Plan for Teaching Rhetorical Invention” (1968), in Contemporary Rhetoric 144, 147 (W. Ross Winterowd ed., 1975)).
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