Promise, Assure

"I promise you we had a good time yesterday." Promise relates to the
future, hence "I assure you," etc., would be better.

Propose, Purpose

To propose is to set before the mind for consideration; to purpose is
to intend. "I propose sending my son to college" should be "I
purpose," etc. "I propose that you go to college, my son." "Thank you,
father, I accept the proposal."

Sparrowgrass, Asparagus

The word sparrowgrass, which is a corruption of the word asparagus,
illustrates how readily the uneducated mind associates an unusual term
with another that is familiar, and as the mental impression is
received through the ear, and lacks that definiteness which the
printed form would give, the new idea, when repeated, often assumes a
picturesque, if not a ludicrous, form. Many of Mrs. Partington's
quaint sayings furnish further illustration.

The following incident, from a Western paper, shows the successive
stages in the farmer's mental operations from the familiar terms skin,
hide, oxhide, up to the unfamiliar chemical term oxide, through which
he was obliged to pass before he succeeded in making known his wants:
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