Bukan, bedanya bukan huruf “t”. Itu sih jayus; anak kecil juga tau.
Ini kasusnya agak mirip dengan “complain” vs. “complaint”. Kalo kita pahami dan bisa ingat fungsi katanya, maka seharusnya tidak sulit mengetahui kapan pake yang mana.
Yang umumnya membuat rancu adalah antara “join” ketika akan digunakan sebagai kata kerja (“to join”), dan “joint” yang digunakan sebagai adjective (e.g. “joint checking account”, “joint venture”) atau kata benda (e.g. “the top two joints of my index finger”). Ini tebakan ngawur aja sih, tapi kemungkinan karena ketambahan huruf “t” maka kata tersebut terlihat lebih kompleks sehingga kesannya jadi lebih benar. Padahal keduanya bisa benar, tergantung konteksnya apa.
Yang bikin lebih bingung lagi, “join” juga bisa jadi kata benda yang punya arti mirip dengan “joint” sebagai kata benda.
Ini benar:
- I joined a mailing list.
- My joints ache.
- The join between the two sheets is clearly visible.
Ini salah:
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New Oxford American Dictionary mengenai pemilihan kata “join”, “combine”, “consolidate”, “connect”, “unite”, dan “conjoin”.
THE RIGHT WORD
It is possible for someone to join an investment club, to consolidate his or her financial resources, and to combine a background in economics with a strong interest in retirement planning. All of these words mean to bring together or to attach two or more things.
Join is the general term for bringing into contact or conjunction two discrete things (: join two pieces of wood; join one’s friends in celebration), while conjoin emphasizes both the separateness of the things that are joined and the unity that results (: her innate brilliance, conjoined with a genuine eagerness to learn, made her the ideal candidate for the job).
In contrast, to combine is to mix or mingle things together, often to the point where they merge with one another (: combine the ingredients for a cake).
Consolidate also implies a merger of distinct and separate elements, but the emphasis here is on achieving greater compactness, strength, or efficiency (: consolidate their furnishings and buy a new house together).
Connect implies a loose or obvious attachment of things to each other, but with each thing’s identity or physical separateness preserved (: the two families were connected by blood; she connected the computer to the printer). In a physical context, it differs from join in that it implies an intervening element that permits movement; in other words, the bones are connected by ligaments, but bricks are joined by mortar.
When things are joined or combined so closely that they form a single thing, they are said to unite (: the parties were united in their support of the new law).
