Photo: Lindspetrol/Flickr

Little tiny ants have been spotted in our new home, and many people are suffering the same fate across the country. As much as I love spring, I don’t like bugs — especially bugs that can infest a house. Last week I asked for some advice in how to deal with ants naturally as I didn’t have time to research it myself since I just moved this weekend. I got such good advice, I had to share it with the readers here at MNN as well.

Some of these measures are deterrents. That is, they deter the ants from coming in your house. This seems to work well for those with a mild problem. Others found that they needed to use a method that kills the whole colony of ants. I’ve compiled the comments and suggestions by category, allowing you to compare the different methods a little more easily.

Teresa: We just spray around the openings with pure lemon juice … and it always works for us … something about the acid messes up their sense of tracking…

Shayla: We use ground cinnamon around where there are coming it. It works really well.

Peggy: We spray cinnamon essential oil all around the doors, windowsills, floors, etc. keeps them from coming in. I put the sugar water and borax OUTSIDE!

Letia: Another vote for ground cinnamon. Easy to clean up afterwards and worked great for us!!!

Jean: Cinnamon and cloves. Makes your house smell nice and the ants just hate it sprinkled right in their path.

Patricia: We also use cinnamon oil. We draw borders around everything with a Q-tip dipped in it. They won’t cross it.

Heather: My mother-in-law has success with peppermint essential oil around windows and doors (any entries). Plus her house then smells awesome.

Julie: Dr. Bonner’s liquid soap in the mint aroma. Mix 1 to 1 with water in a spray bottle. Spray on the ant invasion and watch them suffer.

Kristi: We use borax, sugar, water and a touch of peanut butter. It takes a couple of weeks but really works. We used it last year in our old house and are implementing it again this spring in our new house. Pesky ants! Here is the site where I found the recipe:http://naturalantkiller.blogspot.com/

Christy: I second Diana’s comment about borax and sugar. I’ve made a thin paste before with water, sugar and borax, then spread it on little pieces of thin cardboard or stiff cardstock and placed them near where it seems they are coming into the house. They’ll eat it and take it back to their colony (just like the Terro liquid you can buy). The paste will dry up in a couple days, so you’ll have to make more. But I think I only had to do it twice before they were gone.

Chookie: What worked for us was a mixture of borax and sugar in water. Several years ago, we lived in a house where there was an ants nest in the walls. Removing it would have meant virtually demolishing the entire front wall of the house (not practical!), so instead, after a year or two of having flying ants swarm into our bedroom every year we decided to go on an ant killing spree. Conventional ant killers didn’t work. Borax and powdered sugar didn’t work. But adding water to the borax and sugar mix to make a thick sugary borax-y syrup DID work…. the worker ants took it back into the nest and it positioned the queen – result = no more flying ants. OK, so borax does need to be kept away from pets and small children, but it is relatively safe beyond that as it is only toxic if you eat it. my solution was to put it somewhere where the kids and the cats would not reach it but the ants could.

BeverlyC: We live in China and had a HORRIBLE ant problem in our house. Tried cinnamon, black pepper, vinegar, etc. etc. We were concerned about the borax because we have guests in and out regularly and the little children are often, well, naughty and undisciplined. When someone suggested Terro liquid ant bait and we found it was just Borax and sugar, we asked someone to bring us some. We could pick the traps up and put them away when company came and put them back out after they left. They worked wonders!!

Jennie: We make sure all of our food is sealed up. The honey jar is usually the biggest ant magnet, so it gets a thorough washing and then is placed on a small water-filled saucer in the cupboard. We use a spray bottle filled with water and a squirt of liquid dish soap (I use Seventh Generation) to kill any visible ants. I also look around outside to try to find their hill; pouring a kettle of boiling water on it solves the problem.

Christy:  I’ve done what Jennie mentioned too – boiling water will destroy an ant colony, or weeds popping up between sidewalk cracks or in mulch. It’s an easy, purely natural way to kill things that we don’t often think about.

Karen: Yes … diatomaceous earth (DE) works well … use food-grade not swimming pool DE. It should be sprinkled around the perimeter of your new home and you can also safely sprinkle it inside where you see them. Do not wet the DE or it will not work. DE isn’t an instant kill but should resolve the problem within a week or so.

Jami: I have a pretty serious any invasion at my house too. When I moved in last April they had already made themselves at home. I did the cinnamon thing last year and worked ok, but they just kept finding new ways in. My ants weren’t attracted to sugary things, but protein, especially the dog food. This year I made some borax cookies and put them in the old fireplace where I noticed the ants returning a week ago. I also sprinkled DE around the perimeter of my kitchen and that seems to have worked better than anything so far for immediate results.

Natalie: Oh! And they will not cross a line drawn in chalk. I drew a line around my window where they were coming in and it kept them at bay.

Anali: My grandparents had really good results with the line of chalk, they used powder that you can get at home improvement stores. It comes in a squeezey bottle so it’s easy to lay down a line with.

Jennifer: Ants carry an acidic substance with them always for protection. I do a mix of baking soda and powdered sugar in a plastic lid set in strategic places. I think a little volcanic science experiment happens inside their bodies. Over the course of several days, it has made a huge difference.

Lea: I have had success with used coffee grounds, I did know where their entry was, after putting it in the cracks they never returned. I also do know it doesn’t kill them, it just makes them move homes, (we have put them on beds outside and we just see them pop up a small distance away.

Jill: One more thing to add to this. I saw somewhere to use corn meal. Well, it worked out since some moths got into my cornmeal, and I felt bad wasting it. That’s when I saw the idea and tried it. I sprinkled a little bit just off the back porch. Every day I would check and every day the same trail of ants was still there. Then I forgot about it. My daughter found another ant nest further out in the yard, and it made me remember to check the last trail. It was gone, completely gone. So, I sprinkled it on the new nest, and less than a week later, it is gone. If you google it there are a ton of places where it mentions it. Here’s just one link, and if you scroll to the Tip there is still another idea using molasses. Although if cornmeal will work I think it’s cheaper, and safer around kids and pets.

Rebecca: Cream of wheat! They eat it & it expands & they explode! Ha! I used it in my garden for ant problems. Kind of makes you wonder what it does to our insides when we eat it too

Kristie: Vinegar! Since we switched to using a vinegar/water solution for mopping the floors and cleaning the counters, our ant problem has vanished.

Mysty: Vinegar is the one sure solution, but you need to pour it where the ants have their nest, not just to where they walk around. If you find their nest just pour about 0.5-1 L of white (cheap) vinegar. I never had ant problems but my grandparents sometimes has as they has a big farm and there is always an ant problem is some corner of the farm.

Cath: We used a mixture of vinegar, washing up liquid (ecover) and peppermint oil last year. Tracked them back to their nest and syringed it into the cracks. They never came back.

Tea Leaf: We killed our ants by mixing Equal packets with apple juice. It is a neurotoxin to the ants. Scary that people put these in their coffee.

With all its accents and dialects, the English language naturally includes variation in sound. But sometimes people just flat out mispronounce words.

Take a look at these 11 examples.We bolded the emphasized syllable and included links for audio (click the word to listen).

While some words have multiple acceptable pronunciations, the audio links include the standard pronunciation.

The true pronunciations might surprise you.

1. comptroller

(noun): a person in charge of the financial accounts of a company or organization

The standard pronunciation is the same as “controller.”

This word began as a variant of “controller,” with influence from an unrelated French word, “compte,” meaning “an account.”

2. kibosh

(noun): something that serves as a check or stop; “put the kibosh on that”

The standard pronunciation is “ky-bosh,” not “kih-bosh.”

Charles Dickens’ “Sketches by Boz” gave us the first written example in 1836. He spelled the word, possibly phonetically, as “kye-bosk.”

3. sherbet

(noun): a frozen sweet dessert made from fruit or fruit juices

Many say “sher-bert,” though there’s no second “r” — not even a silent one. It’s not to be confused with “sorbet” (sor-bay), which contains no milk. Sherbet does.

4. mischievous

(adjective): showing a playful desire to cause trouble

The standard pronunciation is “mis-chiv-us,” not “mis-chee-vee-us.”

This mispronunciation also lends itself to spelling errors. When people add the extra syllable, they often add an “i” and incorrectly write “michievious.”

5. prestigious

(adjective): having prestige, honored

The preferred pronunciation is “pre-sti-jus,” not “pre-stee-jus.”

6. banal

(adjective): boring or ordinary, not interesting

Standard pronunciation is “buh-nal,” not “bay-nul.”

7. peremptory

(adjective): used to describe a command you must obey without question or excuse

It’s pronounced “pe-remp-tory,” not “pre-emp-tory.”

When people pronounce “peremptory” as “preemptory,” they’re probably mistaking it for another adjective entirely: “preemptive,” which means “done to stop an unwanted act from another group from happening.”

8. Realtor

(noun): used for a real estate agent who is a member of the National Association of Realtors

It’s pronounced “real-ter,” not “real-a-tor.”

Latin links “real” and “estate” together, but Realtor was created, capitalized, and trademarked to describe brokers who are members of the national association, according to Robert Willson, an English professor turned real estate agent.

Willson speculates that the mispronunciation comes from metathesis, or transposing certain letters within words. Saying “aks” for “ask” is another common example.

9. cache

(noun): a hiding place; a part of a computer’s memory where information is kept

It’s pronounced exactly the same as “cash.”

Some confuse “cache” with “cachet” (“cash-ay“), which means “carrying great prestige.”

10. supposedly

(adverb): claimed to be true or real

This mispronunciation involves two words: “supposedly” and “supposably.”

The first is usually the one most people want to use, while the second means “capable of being supposed.” It’s a slight distinction but an important one.

11. flaccid

(adjective): not firm, not hard or solid

The standard pronunciation is “flak-sed,” not “flas-sid.”

Most people pronounce “flaccid” to rhyme with “acid.” But the first “c” should really sound like a hard “k.” Until recently, most dictionaries listed only the first pronunciation.

“Flaccid” stems from Latin, which contains both a hard and soft “c” sounds, potentially where the confusion originated.

BONUS: niche

(noun): a job, activity, etc., that is suitable for someone

There are three acceptable pronunciations here: “nich,” “neesh,” and “nish.”

English borrows the word from French, in which the correct pronunciation is “neesh.” Over time, we’ve Americanized the word to sound like “nich,” now considered the preferred pronunciation.

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