Thursday, September 8, 2011

poor, pour, pore

Poor or poor means having little or no money--
This charity helps the poor.
After he lost his job, he was poor.
Poor may also mean a bad grade, or something lacking or insufficient--
He got a "D" , a poor grade in math class.
That's a poor excuse.

Pour or pour ( rhymes with poor ) means to serve or dispense a liquid--
Pour me a cup of coffee, would you?
She poured the water into the jar.
Pour may also mean raining very heavily--
It never rains but it pours.
It's pouring out; take an umbrella.

Pore or pore ( rhymes with poor ) may refer to the little air holes in your skin--
We sweat out of our pores.
This lotion is supposed to be good for your pores.
Some things may also be said to have pores, or to be porous, such as leaves.
Pore also means to study intently.  Pore is always used with an object, usually in the phrase "pore over"--
He was poring over his school book until midnight.
What makes you want to pore over those dusty old books?

Now that you know that, you can say--
"Pouring  warm water over the skin makes a pore treatment for the poor."
"Pouring warm water over  the skin makes a poor treatment for the pores.", would still make sense, but it would have a different meaning.

Note--not to be confused with "pure" ( pronounced pyoor ) , meaning unadulterated, or unmixed with any other substance or idea--
This is pure nonsense.
It was made of pure silver.

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