# Am I abusing the word “remark”?

My professor often uses the word "remark" to comment on something. I find myself picking it up and also replacing that word for "comment"

Does it look silly to do that? Or is the word "remark" can be used for "anything"?

I am TAing right now and I find myself abusing that word a lot and making myself look silly.

For instance, when I make a marking scheme I usually add a "remark"

Examples.

Remark: Some people thought $(x + y)^2 = x^2 + y^2$

Remark: Writing $f'(x) \neq 0$ does not tell me anything at all

If it is wrong, I aws thinking of using other words like Comment (doesn't seem formal enough) or Pitfall

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I sounds like it wouldn't matter. – Eugene Jun 4 '12 at 1:21
I'd say the first one is a remark, the second is a "note", as in, "Please note that ...." – Gerry Myerson Jun 4 '12 at 1:30
I certainly don't find it silly to write Remark, but you want to be careful that your remarks themselves aren't silly! If you have many remarks that finish off a section, you could write Remarks (plural) and join them together; sometimes your remarks might be mere parentheticals (suited for space inside parentheses) - or notes to put inside dashes like this - and many tangential remarks can be relegated to footnotes, like background references or history behind something, so that you won't have a long list of 'Remarks.' – anon Jun 4 '12 at 1:32
I either write "Remark:", "N.B.", "Note:" or just list them without explicitly giving a word. I don't think you're abusing it or anything, but there are a few other options. – Robert Mastragostino Jun 4 '12 at 1:35