CANON and CANNON
September 19, 2016
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19/09/16 The Difference between ‘Canon’ and ‘Cannon’
‘Canon’ used to be such a rare word that there was no temptation to confuse it with ‘cannon’, which is a large piece of artillery or a large automatic gun that is shot from an aircraft.
The debate over the literary canon (a list of officially-approved works) and the popularity of Pachelbel’s Canon (a compositional technique) have changed all that—confusion is rampant.
Just remember that the big gun is a “cannon.” All the rest are “canons.” However, note that there are metaphorical uses of “cannon” for objects shaped like large guns, such as a horse’s “cannon bone.” (large metacarpal and large metatarsal)
