Thread: Mistake & Error

What is the difference?

Nothing, they are synonyms. "Mistake" is more commonly used in everyday speach though.

(I believe that "error" is derived from Norman French, wheras "mistake" comes from Scandinavian Norse, the two most prominent parent languages of old English. Just like "sick" and "ill", although unlike that example those two words haven't assumed subtly different connotations to the same extent).

I thought that there is a small difference. Mistake is most closely related to a human factor - my mistake, my error - is OK. But I never herd od a system mistake - it's always a system error.
In other word - there are errors in mechanical systems, but no mistakes. While human being could do both mistakes and errors.

Am I wrong?

"Error" is common in literature, but when speaking hardly anyone says it. It sounds like something only a guy from Oxford would consider a synonym for mistake when talking to his peers. I think it also sounds more serious. I made a mistake in thinking the test was tomorrow, when it was really today. Twenty of my answers were errors. In this case a mistake is more like something that you already know, but forgot or accidentally got wrong. An error is something that is just plain wrong, and you probably didn't know the answer at all. Also, mistake is something that a person "makes," whereas an error is the result of this mistake. If there is an error in a calculation, it is because the mathematician made a mistake.

Couldnot agree more.