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Powerful magnet
macademia nuts (Aldi ad) Macadamia is the nut; academia the staff of universities.
magnet for magnate A magnet is an attractor; a magnate is a tycoon.
manor for manner "in a straightforward manor, to the manor born" A manor is a landed estate; your manner is made up of your gestures, tones of voice, phraseology and appearance. If X plays cricket "as to the manner born" he plays as if he's been doing so from his cradle, not as if he grew up in a stately home. The title of the TV programme To the Manor Born is a pun.
mantel for mantle "The Virgin Mary has taken on the mantel of the Mother Goddess." A mantel is a shelf over a fireplace; a mantle is a cloak or coat. If you metaphorically take on somebody's mantle, it's as if you're assuming their official costume. Elijah's mantle literally fell on his disciple, Elisha – see Bible.
mare's nest for tangled web A mare's nest is something you hunt for but never find because it doesn't exist; we weave a tangled web when we first deceive. (Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practise to deceive/But when we've practised for a while/How vastly we improve our style. LINK)
margin of error "The margin for error is enormous." The scope for error is enormous - that's because the margin of error is tiny.
marshmellow for marshmallow Though why is a gelatine sweet covered with icing sugar called after a yellow flower that grows in
swamps?
masquerade for mask A masquerade is a fancy dress ball; a mask is a facial disguise.
memorising for mesmerising If you memorise something you commit it to memory so that you can remember it later; if you mesmerise someone you hypnotise them.
menzanine for mezzanine
metaphorical for mystical or metaphysical Metaphorical means not literal; mystical means spiritual; metaphysical means philosophical.
milieu for medium He's found music in diaries, loose pages and even on toilet paper, the latter being the milieu of Rudolf Karel, a Czech composer and resistance member. (Associated Press) A milieu is a social setting; Karel wrote music on toilet paper, using it as a musical medium.
misnomer for misconception or misdemeanour A misnomer is the wrong name; a misconception is the wrong idea; if you commit a misdemeanour you've done the wrong thing.
momentum for memento Momentum is progress; a memento is a souvenir.
monolithic for monumental, huge, immoveable. Not many people gave the MDC a chance against the seemingly monolithic ruling party. Business Day, June 28 2000 For the past decade, the human genome has loomed over us like a monolith, waiting to be taken apart painstakingly, piece by piece until we could see how it all fits together. New Scientist 20 May 2000. Surely the whole point of a monolith is that you can't take it apart – it's made out of one piece of stone.
monumental for essential Using safe methods is monumental to this process. (Web) If something's monumental it's well-built; if it's essential you can't do without it. Perhaps they were trying to say "fundamental".
moot for academic The discussion became moot on Nov. 4, 1962, when Roosevelt suffered an apparent stroke. Washington Post, Feb. 8 00 (a moot point is a debatable point; a debate becomes academic when it is overtaken by events) "How his pantyhose look -- or what other people think of them -- becomes moot once he puts on his slacks. "I don't broadcast what I wear under my pants," says Steve Newman, an Ohio engineering-firm manager who wears L'eggs Sheer Energy Active Support under them, among other brands." Washington Post (Webster supports this usage LINK TO AMERICANISMS)
mortal coil for planet "But in this age of emotional incontinence, exhibitionism and hysterical hyperbole, he's been elevated to some sort of genius snatched too soon from this mortal coil." Gareth McLean, Guardian blog Jan 08 "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil", said Hamlet. It's not like shuffling off to Buffalo. He was talking the soul shedding its body like a snake shedding its skin.
moult for mould "Cast in an Edwardian moult." When you moult you shed your feathers, fur or skin; a mould is a shell used for casting statues etc.
much touted for much discussed Ticket touts sell over-priced tickets to those queueing for the theatre; if you tout a subject you big it up or virally market it.
mute point for moot point A mute person can't make a sound; a moot point is debatable.
myopic for microscopic A search of her belongings uncovered 12 spiral notebooks filled with myopic plottings. Joanna Coles, Times Mar 6 00 Myopic people are shortsighted; microscopic writing is tiny.
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