Here’s another writing pet peeve — when folks confuse peak (or peek), and pique. Here’s an example of proper usage: I live in Denver, Colorado, so I have a lovely view of the mountain peaks when I look to the West, but my interest is piqued when I find a good book about world history.
Instead, what I see most commonly is “this really peaked my interest,” or “I thought this would peek your interest.”
This doesn’t trouble me too much when I see it on blogs, mailing lists, and so forth. I’m used to seeing language atrocities there… but it’s just a different story when it’s something from a communications professional, i.e., from a PR person.
I’m often a card carrying grammar Nazi, but this is one of the mistakes that bothers me the least. It’s forgivable because the mistake intuitively makes sense, which is probably why most people probably fall for it. After all, to “pique one’s interest” means that the person’s interest is in a heightened state, much like their body would be on a peak.
Amazing post.
I made this mistake, and the recipient was a real language guru, and he corrected my error. Here is my response to him:
well shut my mouth, thanks for the correction, definitely a peak experience for today. (or is it peek?)
I saw this mistake in, of all places, the MENSA national bulletin. It is in the August 2011 edition on page 53 under the byline of Tom Elliott. I guess just because people are smart doesn’t mean they know the difference between “pique” and “peak” (or, worse, “peek”).
Wow! I can’t believe someone from MENSA made that mistake. Guess we’re all human, but that sort of thing annoys me even though I know it shouldn’t.
just received a letter from an attorney….”peak my interest”….grrrrrrrrr
Having considered the definitions of both of these words, I submit that both words, peaked and piqued, work in the context of describing the nature of a person’s interest. It is fine to say, “my interest was peaked,” as long as what was meant was, “my interest was at it’s highest point.”
It may also be fair to say that the mountains to the west of Denver are vexed by perceived indignity.
I can find no defense for, “my interest was peeked” …
The verb “to peak” or “peaked” brings with it the connotation that after “peaking” the “interest” will promptly begin to decline. To use the word “peak” as a verb does mean that the interest was “at its highest point,” as you say. However it also means that directly after being peaked the interest began to fade away to nothing.
Please – “my interest was at its (not “it’s”) highest point”
This is an easy one to get right (but people keep getting it wrong).
I agree, isoundman. Don’t let Les’ comment detract from the message.
Thank you for the tip Joe. It was most helpful.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I knew this but it had slipped from my consciousness. It must come from the French, “piquer”, which means to prick (as in when a dog pricks his ears up), which makes perfect sense. So it is probably more in the sense of temporarily heightened interest rather than achieving a summit. Perfect word.
So this is blowing my mind. I often say something has “piqued my interest.” I have not often spelt it (is, in fact, in Webster’s New World College Dictionary “alternative spelling for past participle of spell,” although I usually do say spelled), so today I had to check the dictionary:
pique
transitive verb
1 : to arouse anger or resentment in : irritate
2 a : to excite or arouse especially by a provocation, challenge, or rebuff
b : pride
synonyms see provoke
Other forms: piqued; piqu·ing
Examples
Brightly colored objects pique a baby’s interest.
her seat companion piqued her by repeatedly poking her in the ribs
Origin: French piquer, literally, to prick — more at pike.
First use: 1669
Synonyms: aggravate, annoy, bother, bug, burn (up), chafe, eat, exasperate, frost, gall, get, grate, gripe, hack (off), irk, itch, nark [British], nettle, peeve, persecute, irritate, put out, rasp, rile, ruffle, spite, vex
By this, it seems correct to say something has piqued my interest not just anytime it has excited my interest, but only if it has done so in an irritating way.
NO: Books of world history pique my interest.
YES: News stories about human trafficking pique my interest.
Do I understand this correctly? Any thoughts?
Thank you! I read through this topic because I knew the word pique/piqued. I wanted to use it, but thought it had the connotation of being irritated. I searched as I doubted its use in the context of piquing interest in a good way. I understand what you wrote to a T. I guess it is valid to be used in either situation, even though it seems to be a negative.
I think definition 2a, “to excite or arouse especially by a provocation,” makes the use of the word appropriate any time your interest is excited.
I was right!!!!! NO ONE around here knows that “piqued” even exists. People think I make it up or can’t spell. I’m not crazy! Thank you!
You could just point them to a dictionary and explain that the definition makes more sense than the other words. I doubt many will accept that it’s “the correct way” to write it, but you should at least be able to convince them that it’s a valid word choice. Bonus points if you get them to understand that it’s better.
Wow, I am plenty smart, but I seriously hadn’t even heard of pique till this very second. O_O! Did NOT even know that was a word lol fail. thx
I knew I was writing it wrong so I Googled it and confirmed my guess with your site- THANKS!
Please stop defending the nearest homonym.
There is no chance that original usages will be preserved: not “The Ugly American”, not “begs the question”, not “there’re”.
Just say – hey: get used to it.
We had the worst time making a meringue pie. Despite following the emphatic instructions–”And don’t peak!”– our regular checks only seemed to make matters worse. That’s when we realized the author meant “peek”, rather than “peak.” PALM+FACE.
When saying your interest has been piqued or peaked, either could be correct depending on what your intent is. If you want to say that you’re intrigued, use piqued. However, you could mean that your interest is at an all-time high by saying peaked.
LOL hard @ the meringue pie comment!
How about being somewhat annoyed, or feeling piqued?
I am in the middle of writing a letter – used the word piqued – then decided to take a quick look at the definition (at times I THINK I KNOW). To my surprise – piqued has a negative connotation – as in ‘vexed’. The word ‘peaked’ is correct for positive expression. Interesting – I thought I KNEW!! Well, now I’m better informed!
now I’m really confused…so if something is interesting to me in a good way, I should NOT use “pique” and instead use “peak”?
So true. And when people put the period inside the quotations – another one that drives me batty! – a fellow PR pro
I was about to say, “But periods (and commas, exclamation points, question marks, etc.) are SUPPOSED to go inside the quotations – it drives me batty when people put them OUTSIDE the quotations.”
Then, to be sure, I did a search for “punctuation rules quotation marks comma period” (without the quotes). I discovered that it depends on whether the writer is following American English rules or British English rules. So we’ll both have to find out the nationality of the writer before we go batty!