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A significant number of my friends assume that carrier is the same as career.

Their justification is that since their job carries them through their life, it is their carrier.

Is the difference between these words specifically highlighted anywhere?

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In British English, they don't sound at all the same (the stress is different), so it wouldn't occur to anybody to talk about "the difference between" them. – Colin Fine Sep 8 '11 at 12:44
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I think any good dictionary would provide the difference in meaning – Waggers Sep 8 '11 at 12:53
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Akash - this is very typical in India, even among those who studied with English as the first language. They tend to pronounce career as carrier. But I've never heard them actually justify it as you've described. – JoseK Sep 8 '11 at 12:57
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Carrier == Aircraft Carrier, for example. :) Carrier normally implies something used for carrying other things. – woodykiddy Sep 8 '11 at 13:05
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@Akash: so you're saying that everyone in India pronounces these two the same? In AmE they are very different: career = kuh-REAR, carrier = KAIR-ee-uhr or KAIR-yuhr. What is the rough pronunciation by you? (syllables, stress, vowel quality) (are the r's pronounced? etc) – Mitch Sep 8 '11 at 13:25
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closed as general reference by simchona♦, Robusto, Jasper, Mehper C. Palavuzlar, waiwai933♦ Sep 8 '11 at 14:31

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

They are totally different words, in both meaning and (at least where I live in the USA) pronunciation.

Perhaps because they have a lot of the same letters in roughly the same order I could see where they might confuse someone who first came across them in writing. I can even see where relating them might be a useful mnemonic for people trying to memorize English vocabulary.

However, for those of us who learned them audibly, I assure you there is no confusion. They really bear no relation to each other at all.

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I think you slightly miss OP's point. He (or at least his Indian friends) did learn it audibly rather than orthographically. That's why they erroneously conflate the two words. – FumbleFingers Sep 8 '11 at 21:30
@FumbleFingers - If that's the case, he probably shouldn't have accepted my answer. – T.E.D. Sep 8 '11 at 22:16
I suspect OP himself already doubted the conflation, so just your first sentence satisfied him that his friends were mistaken. I'm pretty sure some similar misunderstandings in the past have actually survived to become part of our standard language, but I can't think of one offhand. Apart from "orange", which isn't quite the same. Anyway, we ain't gonna let this one sneak under the radar! :) – FumbleFingers Sep 8 '11 at 22:46
up vote 3 down vote

The difference is specifically highlighted in a dictionary:

career: A chosen pursuit; a profession or occupation.

carrier: One that transports or conveys: baggage carriers; a message carrier.

And in British English, the words are pronounced differently.

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They're pronounced differently in American English, too. career has two syllables, with the emphasis on the second. carrier has three syllables, with emphasis on the first; the second and third syllables are sometimes elided, but the emphasis is nevertheless always on the first syllable. – Caleb Sep 8 '11 at 13:26

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