Though you probably recognize both noisome and odious as something you don't want to be called, they might not mean what you or your writers think they mean from the way they look. Take note of these deceptive epithets to avoid future malaprops.
Noisome
At a glance, noisome looks like it follows the same pattern as words like troublesome, quarrelsome, and lonesome, simply the creation of an adjective by adding -some to a noun, but with a dropped e. Following this pattern, noisome might just be a rather useless synonym for noisy.
But it isn't.
Noisome isn't related to the word noise, but to annoy. Something is noisome if it is offensive or hurtful, and it's especially used to describe noxious or harmful fumes.
Wrong: (Speaking of car shipping) “It is prudent to disengage the alarm before it creates a noisome ruckus while being shipped.”
Right: “The girl's life had been squandered in the streets, and among the most noisome of the stews and dens of London, but there was something of the woman's original nature left in her still…” [From Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist]
Noisome, then, is often used to describe a foul odor, unlike odious.
Odious
Odious is related to odor the way noisome is related to noise, which is to say that they aren't related at all. To say something is odious is not to say it smells bad.
What is odious is worthy of hatred, disgust, or at least a strong dislike. As a noun, it becomes odium, a state of disrepute or infamy, and both forms come from the Latin word for “hatred.”
Wrong: “[Tellurium] burns with a smell at first very like that of selenium, though perhaps not quite so odious, but in cooling, the smell changes to that of burning hair or skin.”
Right: “His position at moments seemed to him an odious one, for he was firmly resolved that between him and the woman to whom his friend had proposed there should be nothing in the style of vulgar flirtation.” [From Henry James's Confidence]
It's true that something or someone worthy of hatred — who is odious — might also be hurtful or offensive (or stinky) — noisome — in which case, the words can become a nice pair. Try not to overuse them during this political season.
This article was originally posted on the Copyediting website, Nov. 4, 2015.
