In Search of … the Candy Isle

My friends, there are homophones among us. Homophones, in case you’ve forgotten, are words that sound alike but have different meanings, spellings, or derivations (according to Webster). When used incorrectly, these words can make us chuckle or weep, or perhaps scratch our heads in confusion.

Aisle and isle are homophones. They sound alike but have different meanings, spellings, and derivations. An aisle is what you walk down in the grocery store or movie theater; an isle is a small island. (“Here on Gilligan’s isle …” Surely some of you are old enough to remember an educational program called Gilligan’s Island—anyone?)

Authors are forever turning their aisles into isles. I’ve seen characters walk down the isle to get married, spill popcorn in the isle at the movies, and visit the candy isle at the grocery store. I’ve even seen slightly insane characters running up and down the store isles trying to kill one another (I guess they had really long legs). In each of these cases, the characters were actually in an aisle. I personally checked this just today by searching for the candy isle at our local store. Sadly, there was no island of candy. I selected my bag of Tootsie Rolls from an ordinary old aisle.

The lessons? First, sometimes spell-check is stupid and will lead you astray. Second, it’s a good idea to go to your grammar book or style guide once in a while and skim through the list of commonly confused or misused words, even (or especially) if you think you already know it all.