Ten Words You Need To Stop Misspelling

[Adrock-JD]

embarrass

I hate this word. I can never remember how many r's and s's are in it.

conscience

This word just won't look right no matter how many times I see it.

 

[Críostóir]

embarrass

I hate this word. I can never remember how many r's and s's are in it.

conscience

This word just won't look right no matter how many times I see it.

Two words to remember for 'embarrass': Ass and Arse. Both bare. The bare ass would be embarrassing, but it will give you the two esses at the end. The bare arse you say out loud (and pronounce it American style): Rs. Plural. That gives you the two Rs.

So you're embarrassed by the fact that your Rs is bare; you're bareassed.

'Conscience' used to throw me too, until I realized it was 'con' as in 'with' and 'science' in its old meaning of "thoughtfulness." Con-Science, with science, a conscience goes with science.

Hope those help.

 

[Críostóir]

A few days ago, I read a bumper sticker on someone's car that read "I'm a Christian. Get use to it."

Tempting to deface it as follows:

I'm a [STRIKE]Christian[/STRIKE] willfully ignorant bozo. Get use^d to it.

 

[frankfrank]

By spelling it correctly??? That's what i call deviance!

You say DEVIANCE,
I say DEFIANCE,
Let's call the whole thing off LOL

 

[TheOscar]

A few days ago, I read a bumper sticker on someone's car that read "I'm a Christian. Get use to it."

XD Lolz, I find so many spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes across the land. >.> Places that are supposed to be professional, too.

 

[Ram]

Anyway it's NOT cooncetation, it's ... it's... um I don't what the correct spelling is.

 

[Críostóir]

The Oscar, I have a pet peeve about these lists, and that pet peeve is this:

"Most Misspelled Lists" usually assert that affect is a verb, while effect is a noun.

This is incorrect. Affect can be used as a noun, and effect can be used as a verb. Examples:

•1. Susan Smith had an inappropriate affect when she discussed the disappearance of her two boys. (noun)

•2. This lined stationary will effect long, flowing lines for the Gregg Stenographer. (verb)

To be fair, this particular list does say "mostly", but I still think that it's misleading to include it on the list.

I think it's VERY valuable and not at all misleading to include these. The nominal use of 'affect' is (these days) specialty terminology of psychology (that is, jargon) and most people won't ordinarily encounter it, much less need to use it themselves. And the verbal use of 'effect' is vanishing as we speak. I think a minor caution (for example "there is a noun 'affect', but it's psychology jargon, so unless you're writing about psychology you probably don't need to worry about spelling it") would be appropriate, but the misspellings are the bigger issue by far.

I'll worry about how words are spelt from the day that the US puts the 'U' back in colour. Otherwise, the english language is for me to use and abuse as i like it (so long as i can still be heard and understood) .

Well, much as I think Noah Webster did wrong by taking the u's out of all those words, it's the status quo in America. That you just have to get over.

Spellings CHANGING, or being REGIONAL, is quite different from an individual just deciding to spell things any way he likes. There's no particular reason to drive on one side of the road or the other either, but you'll run into trouble quickly if you come to America and drive on the British side of the road, or just drive on whichever side you're in the mood for in either country!

CONVENTIONS FACILITATE COMMUNICATION. By opposing conventions of spelling, you are, whether you realize (hah!) it or not, opposing good communication.

But anyone who can write "the english [sic] language is for me to use and abuse as i like it [sic]" is not going to listen to the above...or be worth listening to on any topic, most likely. The fact that you don't give a damn whether I listen to you or not just proves that I'm right.

 

[Críostóir]

By the way, I think 'e.g.' and 'i.e.' have been misused so much that they should be abandoned. They're used interchangeably by so many people, and so many others have the meanings exactly reversed, that even if you use them correctly half of your readers will be confused.

I think we should just use 'for example' and 'that is' respectively, and give up showing off our Latin in this particular case, in the interests of better communication.

 

[pat grimshaw]

^
I think I agree. I spent 2 years doing Latin and I only think about it once a year now.

 

[dat outside dick]

The Oscar, I have a pet peeve about these lists, and that pet peeve is this:

"Most Misspelled Lists" usually assert that affect is a verb, while effect is a noun.

This is incorrect. Affect can be used as a noun, and effect can be used as a verb. Examples:

•1. Susan Smith had an inappropriate affect when she discussed the disappearance of her two boys. (noun)

•2. This lined stationary will effect long, flowing lines for the Gregg Stenographer. (verb)

To be fair, this particular list does say "mostly", but I still think that it's misleading to include it on the list.



Two words often thought to be misspelt, but aren't:

"misspelt" and "judgement".

Both are correctly-spelt Britishisms, and the former is often still used in the American South.

Enjoyed this until you misspelled "stationery".

 

[Joshua_me]

The "a lot" thing always drives me nuts.

(Granted, it's a short trip.)

 

[gsdx]

The "a lot" thing always drives me nuts.

A pirate with a ship's steering wheel strapped to his crotch walks into a bar. The bartender asks him, "Hey! Why you got that steering wheel strapped to your crotch?" And the pirate said, "Arrrr! It drives me nuts!"

Ba Dum Bum

 

[Ram]

Pass instead of Past. I hate those morons who can't get it right!

 

[chrisw87]

My grammar and spelling is atrocious, OK it is not that bad compared to some my age but it is something that does make me embarrassed.

Effect/Affect - I always struggle with it.
license - simple but I am caught out many times spelling 'licence'
Lens - I have a tendency to write 'lense'
A lot - I always type 'alot'

Grammar - don't get me started. Although I can construct a brilliant essay or a piece of informative writing (articles, reports etc) my grammar always lets me down.

Related to the above is REFERENCING. In a professional writing situation, correct referencing is the devil. I always keep a copy of a referencing guide with my dictionary and thesaurus (yes people still use paper versions).

 

[viviorunitia]

Omg i just realized i misspell hemorrhoid.
Thank you Oatmeal.
Damn English teacher never gave us that word for our
vocabulary test.

It should really be spelled haemorrhoid since it comes from the Greek prefix 'haemo' meaning blood but this word and many others coming from this Greek root seem to have the letter 'a' dropped from them nowadays.

 

[viviorunitia]

Nonsense. The only people who insist on using dipthongs live in ancient Greece and in the U.K. It survives only for snob appeal.

I wasn't trying to be a snob, was just pointing it out. I think it is interesting how language develops and clearly one such development has been that diphthongs such as these have, by and large, been replaced by a single vowel.

If I was trying to be a snob then I would point out how you misspelled the word diphthong

 

[viviorunitia]

It's a collective snobbery, more akin to nationalism, not a personal thing.

I misspelled diphthong as a test. Yeah, that's it. A test.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

So I passed the test? Yay!

 

[Críostóir]

'Phthong' means vowel in Greek. 'Di' (two) 'phthong' vowel, two vowels.

It's not a spelling term at all. Digraphs, maybe, like the ligatures æ &* œ, but not diphthongs.

*itself a ligature for 'et'.

 

[bankside]

I can think of one right away. JUDGEMENT shows up in many dictionaries noawadays, alongside the traditionally-proper JUDGMENT. (Was that judgement rendered because he PLED guilty? haha)

From Oxford, edited for accuracy:
In British English the normal spelling in general contexts is judgement. However, the spelling judgment is conventional in legal contexts, and in [STRIKE]North American[/STRIKE]United States English.

 

[bankside]

English lexicographers have always been far too loosey-goosey -- even Oxford -- when it comes to immortalising uneducated or inept English.

The strength that comes from the language's adaptability would be fully preserved by admitting useful neologisms, but suppressing the crap instead of following any fad, no matter how ill-conceived, no matter what vandalism it does to words and constructions that are already useful, fully-formed, and precise in their meaning.