Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Words that we tend to spell wrong

#1
Leigha Offline
For some reason, ''similar'' is one such word for me. No clue why, but I tend to add another "i" after the "l'' like this --> s-i-m-i-l-i-a-r. Accommodate is another pesky one. Dodgy  Earlier, I was in the process of replying to a client's email and used the word ''accommodate.'' But, my misspelled version had just one "m." I was like, why is there a line under this word? lol

I consider myself a decent speller, so it's odd that some of the simplest words trip me up. 

If you have any, please share so I don't feel so silly.  Blush
Reply
#2
Secular Sanity Offline
Curiosity, unfortunately, thorough and several others that I can't recall at the moment.

My biggest issue is leaving out small words when I'm typing.
Reply
#3
Leigha Offline
(Dec 1, 2020 10:40 PM)Secular Sanity Wrote: Curiosity, unfortunately, thorough and several others that I can't recall at the moment.

My biggest issue is leaving out small words when I'm typing.

Ha Curiosity!! Yesss! That is an odd one, too.

Let’s see - commitment and committed. I tend to do the opposite with these two, commitment with two t’s and committed with one. Every. Single. Time.  -_-
Reply
#4
C C Offline
(Dec 1, 2020 10:03 PM)Leigha Wrote: If you have any, please share so I don't feel so silly.  Blush


Due to it being caused by memory going haywire these days, which words become a problem for me is kind of erratic, may vary from time to time. Some days I get _X_ right and then on others it's like slipping into a parallel universe where the ghost of spelling past has a completely different history.

I may literally sit stupefied that _X_ has always been written like that -- I can actually recall (false?) episodes where dictionaries testified the very opposite. Makes me sympathize with that weird little lady in the nursing home who beckons people to come over, smiling, and then slugs them in the kisser. I'd be angry with everybody, too, if I got transported wholesale to an alternate world where everything is different in the most irritating of ways.

Quote:For some reason, ''similar'' is one such word for me.


That may be a temperamental one for me, too, especially when -ly is added to the end. I once never relied on spellcheckers and grammar apps and still have a partial habit of ignoring their error outcries (much to my woe). Can't come to grips with the reality of no longer having a mind.
Reply
#5
Leigha Offline
(Dec 1, 2020 11:01 PM)C C Wrote:
(Dec 1, 2020 10:03 PM)Leigha Wrote: If you have any, please share so I don't feel so silly.  Blush


Due to it being caused by memory going haywire these days, which words become a problem for me is kind of erratic, may vary from time to time. Some days I get _X_ right and then on others it's like slipping into a parallel universe where the ghost of spelling past has a completely different history.

I may literally sit stupefied that _X_ has always been written like that -- I can actually recall (false?) episodes where dictionaries testified the very opposite. Makes me sympathize with that weird little lady in the nursing home who beckons people to come over, smiling, and then slugs them in the kisser. I'd be angry with everybody, too, if I got transported wholesale to an alternate world where everything is different in the most irritating of ways.

Quote:For some reason, ''similar'' is one such word for me.


That may be a temperamental one for me, too, especially when -ly is added to the end. I once never relied on spellcheckers and grammar apps and still have a partial habit of ignoring their error outcries (much to my woe). Can't come to grips with the reality of no longer having a mind.
Literally laughed out loud at your entire post. ''Ghost of spelling past...'' lol!

Yes, it's quite infuriating to ''know'' how to spell a word, yet spell it wrong. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zd3gpg8

Yay, I don't feel that bad anymore; accommodation made the list! Big Grin
Reply
#6
Leigha Offline
Today’s trouble word: questionnaire

Two n’s  Rolleyes

But why? It looks perfectly fine with one.
Reply
#7
Leigha Offline
This week's mishap: ''occurrence''

Two r's Dodgy
Reply
#8
Zinjanthropos Offline
My pc wants to correct me whenever I type favorite or neighborhood, it prefers u between the o & r. Is one version old English and the other American spelling?
Reply
#9
C C Offline
(Dec 21, 2020 06:28 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: My pc wants to correct me whenever I type favorite or neighborhood, it prefers u between the o & r. Is one version old English and the other American spelling?

Safari(?) and your OS have it covered, I guess. In contrast, I remember a Firefox user complaining just the opposite: That his browser had American English set by default without a Canadian English dictionary/language pack as an option. Mozilla directed him here to find the one to install. (EDIT: Looking back, he may have been an American who was writing for Canadians, so the latter language-pack probably would already be pre-installed for a Northerner who downloaded the browser.)

Canadian English seems to be an unstable blend of both UK and US spellings -- with regional eccentricities, deviating paperwork and newspaper contexts, and Other thrown in. Maybe you live too close to the border, if there's a wrangle with spellchecker sometimes.

Why Canadian English is unique: "Canadian spelling is, as mentioned, a tug-of-war between the British and the Americans – jail but centre, analyze but colour. Because Canada is bilingual, French may also have an effect. For example, many signs and labels and institutional names are in French and English, and it’s easier if you can press a word into double service: Shopping Centre d’Achats."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_E...rthography

Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American conventions, the two dominant varieties, and adds some domestic idiosyncrasies. Spelling in Canadian English co-varies with regional and social variables, somewhat more so, perhaps, than in the two dominant varieties of English, yet general trends have emerged since the 1970s.

• Words such as realize and paralyze are usually spelled with -ize or -yze rather than -ise or -yse.
• French-derived words that in American English end with -or and -er, such as color or center, often retain British spellings (colour and centre).
• While the United States uses the Anglo-French spelling defense and offense (noun), most Canadians use the British spellings defence and offence. (But defensive and offensive are universal across all forms of English.)
• Some nouns, as in British English, take -ice while matching verbs take -ise – for example, practice and licence are nouns while practise and license are the respective corresponding verbs. (But advice and advise are universal.)
• Canadian spelling sometimes retains the British practice of doubling the consonant -l- when adding suffixes to words even when the final syllable (before the suffix) is not stressed. Compare Canadian (and British) travelled, counselling, and marvellous (more often than not in Canadian while always doubled in British) to American traveled, counseling, and marvelous. In American English, this consonant is only doubled when stressed; thus, for instance, controllable and enthralling are universal. (But both Canadian and British English use balloted and profiting.)
• In other cases, Canadian and American usage differs from British spelling, such as in the case of nouns like curb, tire, and aluminum, which in British English are spelled kerb, tyre, and aluminium... (history in spoiler)


Canadian spelling conventions can be partly explained by Canada's trade history. For instance, the British spelling of the word cheque probably relates to Canada's once-important ties to British financial institutions.[citation needed] Canada's automobile industry, on the other hand, has been dominated by American firms from its inception, explaining why Canadians use the American spelling of tire (hence, "Canadian Tire") and American terminology for automobiles and their parts (for example, truck instead of lorry, gasoline instead of petrol, trunk instead of boot).

Canada's political history has also had an influence on Canadian spelling. Canada's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, once advised the Governor General of Canada to issue an order-in-council directing that government papers be written in the British style.

A contemporary reference for formal Canadian spelling is the spelling used for Hansard transcripts of the Parliament of Canada (see The Canadian Style in Further reading below). Many Canadian editors, though, use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, often along with the chapter on spelling in Editing Canadian English, and, where necessary (depending on context), one or more other references. (See Further reading below.)

Throughout part of the 20th century, some Canadian newspapers adopted American spellings, for example, color as opposed to the British-based colour. Some of the most substantial historical spelling data can be found in Dollinger (2010) and Grue (2013). The use of such spellings was the long-standing practice of the Canadian Press perhaps since that news agency's inception, but visibly the norm prior to World War II. The practice of dropping the letter u in such words was also considered a labour-saving technique during the early days of printing in which movable type was set manually. Canadian newspapers also received much of their international content from American press agencies, therefore it was much easier for editorial staff to leave the spellings from the wire services as provided.

In the 1990s, Canadian newspapers began to adopt the British spelling variants such as -our endings, notably with "The Globe and Mail" changing its spelling policy in October 1990. Other Canadian newspapers adopted similar changes later that decade, such as the Southam newspaper chain's conversion in September 1998. "The Toronto Star" adopted this new spelling policy in September 1997 after that publication's ombudsman discounted the issue earlier in 1997. "The Star" had always avoided using recognized Canadian spelling, citing the Gage Canadian Dictionary in their defence. Controversy around this issue was frequent. When the Gage Dictionary finally adopted standard Canadian spelling, the Star followed suit. Some publishers, e.g. Maclean's, continue to prefer American spellings.
Reply
#10
Zinjanthropos Offline
I just mix it up. People understand. Put it down as the evolution of language. The only time I want the words spelled correctly is on legal parchment,otherwise I don't care. My wife who's of Dutch ancestry received her university graduation diploma with her surname spelled wrong. She kept it, she has a sense of humour( I did not type the U in that last word). 

My one daughter when she was in Grade 5 or 6 , I can't remember exactly, was part of a gov't experiment. Her class and another one somewhere in Toronto were selected to learn the language phonetically. Whatever they wrote, as long as it was understood, was acceptable. The gov't ended the experiment after couple years but it left my daughter disadvantaged when it came to high school and university. Many a parent/teacher meeting night included me trying to explain to the educator why my daughter's spelling was bad. So when she went to university we decided that any papers she wrote would be sent to me for editing. I just made it legible, clear and concise for the marker/reader. Thank goodness for computers or I don't know if she'd have made it. When she graduated I bought her a "Hukt on Fonix werkt fer me" T-shirt. She has a great job and her spelling has improved over time.

Just be glad Mark Twain didn't get his way:
Quote:A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling 
by Mark Twain
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or 
"s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would 
be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform 
"w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well 
abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with 
useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and 
unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez 
"c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", 
and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius 
xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.


What in the world does xrewawt spell?
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Choosing the Right Words Zinjanthropos 8 520 Jul 30, 2020 02:59 AM
Last Post: Leigha
  Wonderful words English is missing Magical Realist 1 462 Mar 27, 2019 12:45 PM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)