Thank you for asking! The Dawg often hears these words mixed up, even by high placed journalists. On CNN last night they showed a clip of a Donald Trump speech in which The Donald referred to the various GOP politicians he had defeated in the primaries. Trump mentioned Lindsay Graham, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina and then said something about “losers.” He did not directly call these people “losers” but he sort of lumped them into that category. The CNN commentator noted that “Mr. Trump seems to be inferring that anyone who runs for high office and falls short is a loser.”

This is wrong. “Inferring” is never done by the person speaking. Inferring is done by the listener. One might say, “I infer from Mr. Trump’s remarks that he thinks of these people as losers.” But Mr. Trump was speaking, so he could not have been INFERRING. If he was doing anything, he was IMPLYING.

We are educators. Let’s get this straight from now on.

DAWG BONE: A FRIDAY IN LATE JULY IS A FINE TIME TO DEAL WITH A PET PEEVE.