In fashion, the word cape usually refers to a shorter garment and cloak to a full-length version of the different types of garment, and though the two terms are sometimes used synonymously for full-length coverings, the shortest versions are never referred to as cloaks.
- From Wikipedia: Cape
What’s the difference between using one word or another? If your meaning gets across that’s the main thing. Communication is the thing, even though it might not be specifically the right word a lot of people wouldn’t know or would assume I meant a cloak even though (in my ignorance at the time) I had typed cape.
Yet, I like to use the right word and I like to know the history of the words we use. So when writing about a character wearing a big, encompassing cape, I wondered… is that a cape, or a cloak. Curiousity made me look it up and now I know, it should be a cloak. So I will change the word. Luckily, I’m not too far along in my story.
When did you last look up a word? What word and why did you look it up?
