657: Mettle and Metal Sep 25, 2016

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Homophones can be tricky things, and not all of them were always so different. While the verbs 'steel' and 'steal' have nothing to do with each other besides some similarity in pronunciation nowadays, 'metal' and 'mettle' were originally the same, both spelt 'metal'. Over time, the meanings of the two words, which initially were the same, diverged and mettle was used figuratively so often that it took on a meaning of its own to discuss someone's character. Now, 'mettle' is only used for its meaning as a personality trait, and metal is only physical metallic substances.

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