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Em vs Er - What's the difference?

em | er |

As interjections the difference between em and er

is that em is a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm while er is Said when hesitating in speech.

As a noun em

is : The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.

As a pronoun em

is them singular. Gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, coordinate with {{term|him and {{term|her}}.}.

As a proper noun Em

is a diminutive of the female given names Emily and Emma.

As a verb er is

to utter the word "er" when hesitating in speech, found almost exclusively in the phrase um and er.

As an abbreviation ER is

abbreviation of w:Elizabeth Regina|Elizabeth Regina|lang=en.

em

English

Etymology 1

The typographic em is named after the metal type for the capital (M) in early printing, whose body was square (the printed letter M is almost never one em in width).

Noun

(en noun)
    • The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.
  • (typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.
    • Synonyms
    * (typography) quad, em quad * (typography) mutton, mut
    Derived terms
    * emcee * em dash

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    (Spivak pronouns) Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from (them), perhaps influenced by (term, 'em).

    Pronoun

  • (neologism) them (singular).
  • * {{quote-book
    • , date = 1986-04-01 , title = The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package , first = Michael , last = Spivak , location = Providence , publisher = American Mathematical Society , page = 68 , isbn = 0821829998 , id = , lccn = 85007506 , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kXzxAAAAMAAJ&q=up+to+Em+to+indicate+Eir , passage = If the author uses such notation, it should be up to Em to indicate Eir intentions clearly, but there's no harm checking first. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 1997 , title = Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism , first = Steven , last = Shaviro , publisher = Serpent's Tail , location = London , isbn = 9781852424305 , lccn = 9668813 , page = 138 , passage = I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours with em every night, and yet not have the slightest idea what eir voice sounds like, or what eir RL body looks, feels, and smells like. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 2000 , chapter = Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct , first = Jane , last = Love , title = Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work , editors = Inman, James A.; Sewell, Donna N. , publisher = Taylor & Francis , isbn = 0805831711 , id = , page = 193 , passage = E invites em to consider how ey represent emselves(SIC), and in so doing, e focuses eir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible. , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=aFKqSzIxCLkC&pg=PA193 }}
  • * {{quote-web
    • , date = 2011-03-15 , title =
  • 89: New Friend
    • , blog = Riot Nrrd , first = RJ , last = Edwards , url = http://www.riotnrrdcomics.com/2011/03/89-new-friend/ , accessdate = 2012-10-06 , passage = And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em . }}
    Synonyms
    * him or her, * (singular) them * (neologism) hir
    Derived terms
    * (neologism) emself

    See also

    * other gender-neutral pronouns

    Etymology 3

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (Scotland, Ireland) a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm
    • She was going to, em ... the salon, I think.

    Anagrams

    * English two-letter words English third person pronouns ----

    er

    English

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (UK)

    • Verb

  • (informal) To utter the word "er" when hesitating in speech, found almost exclusively in the phrase um and er .
    • He ummed and erred his way through the presentation.

    See also

    * uh

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English two-letter words ----