A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

sloppy Joe • sloppy Joe’s
sloppy Joe —(sl.) 
1
. a long, loose-fitting pullover sweater: You
can’t look like Lana Turner in a Sloppy Joe. Well — maybe
Lana could. 2. hamburger meat served with a spicy barbecue
sauce: I hope to take up cooking as well, because I am getting
tired of eating sloppy Joes. 3. any cheap restaurant or lunch
counter: The baked beans are prepared in a tasty sauce and
served hot. The “Sloppy Joe” is not your typical sloppy Joe.
sloppy Joe’s — = sloppy Joe 3: The barber shop of Felo Cen-
tellas was built years later, not far from Sloppy Joe’s of Perecito.
slot machine • slotting machine
slot machine —a machine whose operation is started by
dropping a coin into a slot: The Court of Appeals declared
that the so-called “one-arm bandit” type of slot machine is
illegal.
slotting machine —a machine tool used for shaping the sides
of an aperture: It has become usual to embrace in the general
term machine tools, such machines as the lathe, slotting-
machine, and others.
slow down • slow up
slow down —
1
. move or work at a slower rate: If the driver
wishes to slow down he does not necessarily change his gear,
but operates the accelerator. 2. live in a quieter less active
manner: New York is a place where you can’t slow down….
Any person tends to vegetate unless he is moving on a fast
track.
slow up —
1
. = slow down 
1
: The bus slowed up to allow the
passengers to get on board. 2. = slow down 2: The doctor
advised Jim to slow up for a time, to give his heart a chance.
small men • small people
small men —
1
. men who are not tall: Monty had all that
cock-sparrowish pluck which small men are wont to possess.
2. craftsmen or tradesmen doing business on a small scale:
The small men must have been very badly hit in the last eight-
een months and … some of the stronger are quietly buying
them up. 3. morally mean, ungenerous people: Only small
men fear the power of words, says Beaumarchais, a phrase to
which the King takes exception.
small people —
1
. a race of people who are not tall: The name
of this culture has been derived from a Kikuyu term which is
applied to a semi-mythical race of small people. 2. = small
men 
1
: Small people are even taught to practice their [self-
defense] drills standing directly in front of opponents who are
often much larger. 3. said of children: There was a garden that
certain small people might play in when they came. 4. the
fairies: The Small People are believed by some to be the spirits
of people who inhabited Cornwall many thousands of years
ago.