Fun with words

This evening my mother and I were watching television and saw an ad for a jewelry store. It was aimed at getting guys to buy engagement rings and ran something along the lines of "Wave a magic wand in front of her " -- photo of engagement ring -- "and she turns from your girlfriend into your fiance."

Okay, besides the obvious bad joke about magic wands, the ad confused the spelling of the word for a woman who is engaged to be married (fiancée) with the word for a man who is engaged to be married (fiancé). So the ad essentially says "she turns from your girlfriend into your boyfriend-who-is-going-to-marry-you."

This confusion is such a common mistake that one could easily contend it is a distinction without a difference in American English usage today. The sort of thing only a word-nut would even notice.

But that's just who I am.