mucous vs mucus

[princeofdarkness]

Hi,

The dictionary says that "mucus" is a noun while "mucous" is an adjective. I just came across "Something's always stinging you or oozing mucous on you." Is this grammatically correct?

Thanks.

 

[entangledbank]

It's just a spelling mistake there. It should be mucus. You can't rely on comics for spelling.

 

[Edinburgher]

WRD has the following note:

USAGE
The noun mucus is often misspelled mucous. Mucous can only be correctly used as an adjective

 

[Barque]

Or perhaps it was just Bill Watterson's joke. A six-year-old boy is likely to make that spelling mistake (if he'd written the word).

 

[Edinburgher]

I don't know, Barque. You could be right, but "mucus" is a pretty advanced word for a six-year-old. Calvin would be no more likely to even know the word than to know how to spell it.
I suspect the mis-spelling is as likely the author's as his subject's.

 

[Barque]

Calvin would be no more likely to even know the word than to know how to spell it.

It's certainly possible that the misspelling is the author's, but Calvin is a very precocious kid who talks of such things as parents living their life vicariously through their children and the role of destiny in people's lives. His using words like mucus is completely in character.

I said it might be deliberate because the impression I've formed of the author is that he's an exceptionally well-read person who's unlikely to misspell words. But such people can make these mistakes too, I agree - if it was a mistake, it was probably a typo rather than a misspelling due to ignorance.

 

[princeofdarkness]

I didn't expect Bill Watterson to make such a mistake though.