Stationery vs. Stationary

Was that a stationery set or a stationary set you wanted?

Did you hear about the mathematician who wanted a stationary set but received a stationery set? He is not the only one to confuse the two spellings of this ancient homonym (words that sound the same but have different meanings). Stationary according to Merriam’s Dictionary means “standing still” “not moving”. Hence, a stationary set to a mathematician means a set of points along a line that does not move. Stationery according to the same source means “writing paper” and “writing materials, as in notepads, pens, pencils, paper and envelopes”.

Our fictitious mathematician, and anyone else, should not feel too badly about confusing these two common words. In fact, they were once the same word and shared the same spelling. In the 1700’s “stationery wares” were sold by “stationers”, i.e. booksellers who did not travel all about but stayed in one place to sell their wares. They were frequently booksellers who also sold writing wares. Somehow, the spellings diverged into stationery (meaning writing ware) and stationary (meaning fixed and unable to move).

A common school house trick for remembering the proper spelling is to remember that station-ery means pap-er. Whether you are on the move or just looking to improve your station in life – always remember that Crane’s quality stands out from the rest.