TIL people keep mixing up memoirs and autobiographies like they're the same thing

I was in a reading group last week and someone called 'Angela's Ashes' an autobiography. It's a memoir! (It only covers Frank McCourt's childhood, not his whole life.) I used to mix them up too until a librarian in Portland corrected me after I asked for 'an autobiography about a chef' and she handed me 'Kitchen Confidential.' Memoirs focus on a specific time period or theme, autobiographies cover the whole life. Has anyone else noticed this mix-up in their own reading circles?

2 comments

2 Comments

thompson.finley22d ago

Actually the bigger mix-up I keep seeing is people calling everything a "tell-all" these days. Like no, Bob from accounting writing about his cat rescue in 2021 is not a tell-all. A tell-all implies you're spilling some serious dirt, not just recounting your cat's adoption journey. The word has lost all meaning.

rivershah21d ago

Heard someone on a podcast call that kind of thing a "meh-moir" instead of a memoir, which felt pretty accurate for most cat adoption stories.