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22 Mar 23 - 12:32 AM (#4168228) Subject: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Recently I was watching YouTube and I clicked on a video that tested spelling ability. It was too easy, and I could spell every word. For example, I had no trouble with 'brought.' Mudcatters are pretty literate. Just for fun, let's make a list of words WE find hard to spell. Here are my nominees: phenomenon parallelepiped resuscitate Do you have any to add? |
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22 Mar 23 - 12:44 AM (#4168229) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome I would but I can't spell them |
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22 Mar 23 - 12:47 AM (#4168230) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Sandra in Sydney my main problem is typing 3 fingered & getting a surprise when I see what I've created. teh is one of my most used words |
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22 Mar 23 - 01:55 PM (#4168233) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Dave, give it a shot. |
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22 Mar 23 - 02:03 PM (#4168235) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw I have no sutch problums. (Come on - someone had to do it!) |
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22 Mar 23 - 02:56 PM (#4168240) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: meself I do occassionnally misspell something or other, I admit - but this is just too embarassing a topic for me to take part in - no exagerration! |
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22 Mar 23 - 04:54 PM (#4168251) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Yeah, I can acomodate that veiwpoint alright. Like me, you probly don't care to see English deteriating. |
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22 Mar 23 - 05:34 PM (#4168255) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mrrzy Words that are almost the same in English and French, like independence/indépendance. |
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22 Mar 23 - 05:46 PM (#4168256) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Bill D I am still on a PC desktop, so I have had installed for 10+ years, TinySpell It sits up top and turns yellow & beeps if I enter a word it doesn't know. I paid for the version that allows adding YOUR words..(I often type 'thru' instead of through.) I am a decent speller, but a bad typist and often reverse letters. I have recently added "Dragon Naturally Speaking" to allow speaking into a mic and typing into a program with voice only. (I didn't turn it on this time, and had 8-10 corrections to get this far.) |
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22 Mar 23 - 06:16 PM (#4168257) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Donuel I don't know any hard to smell words. |
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22 Mar 23 - 06:36 PM (#4168262) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Boloxks. |
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24 Mar 23 - 01:40 PM (#4168277) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Georgiansilver Dislexia |
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24 Mar 23 - 02:00 PM (#4168280) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw I never mispell words. |
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24 Mar 23 - 04:59 PM (#4168296) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Yesterday Spellcheck objected to "smoulder." It was happy with smolder. It also objects to naive every time. There's nothing wrong with naive, is there? It's a word I often use when discussing Trump supporters. Thanks for your examples, everybody. Italians seem determined to spell things wrong: broccoli, zuchini. |
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24 Mar 23 - 05:48 PM (#4168300) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red What I have found as the years pass is typing two-handed, my one hand can beat the other and transpose letters. Made worse with newer laptops getting thinner and the keys getting an unfamiliar lower profile. But we all have bogey words. I realised I was an OK speller when my sister kept spelling certain words wrong. And she was always to be looked up to. weird is a weird word. is it ie or ei? phonetically there are no clues, and I can't think of a mnemonic (or spell that without spellcheck on) And to make it worse I just made a web page "Keep Stroud Weird" - whimsical images. |
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24 Mar 23 - 06:15 PM (#4168307) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw I before e, except after c, and when the sound is ee. |
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24 Mar 23 - 06:17 PM (#4168308) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Joe_F Perhaps the word most commonly misspelled *in print* is "barbecue". Evidently it is incredible that there is no Q in it. It ought to be "barbequeue", of course. |
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24 Mar 23 - 07:28 PM (#4168316) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw God yes, there's a bloke on the harmonica forum who's been calling himself "Barbeque Bob" for decades (sorry if you're reading this, Bob - you know I love you, baby!) |
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24 Mar 23 - 07:39 PM (#4168320) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stilly River Sage Barbecue or barbeque are both considered correct. Also BBQ. |
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24 Mar 23 - 08:54 PM (#4168332) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Tattie Bogle Hmmm, not by everyone, SRS, especially on this side of the pond. What is more annoying is when there are words that are spelled differently according to the context, and people use the wrong spelling: There, their and they’re Here and hear Compliment and complement To, two and too And also when spellcheck wants you to use American spelling when you’re not American! accommodation v accomodation recognise v recognize colour v color favourite v favorite And I could go on, but it might be unnecessary….another hard one! |
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24 Mar 23 - 09:10 PM (#4168334) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw -ise vs -ize is a bit of a nightmare... What's accepted and what grates is troublesome. "BBQ" is universally fine. Any spelling other than "barbecue" for the full-blown word is just ignorant. Odd, but that's English for you. A dictionary worth its salt will never tell you what's right or wrong. Dictionaries are there to reflect usage, no more. |
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24 Mar 23 - 09:41 PM (#4168337) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stanron I thought that spell checkers had an 'add' function so that you could include your preferred spelling. |
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25 Mar 23 - 02:57 AM (#4168343) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Ebbie Steve Shaw 24 Mar 23 - 06:15 PM I before e, except after c, and when the sound is ee. ************************ Nah. Consider height, weight, foreign.... |
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25 Mar 23 - 03:30 AM (#4168347) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome And concierge! Cue doesn't have a q in either. And queue can also be spelled que or just q. |
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25 Mar 23 - 04:28 AM (#4168349) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Backwoodsman ”It also objects to naive every time. There's nothing wrong with naive, is there?” Maybe your Spellchecker wants the diaeresis - naïve? |
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25 Mar 23 - 06:36 AM (#4168357) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw I know, Ebbie. I was parroting what we had to chant at school 60 years ago. It's one of those "rules" that has so many exceptions that it's next to useless, a bit like being told to never split infinitives... |
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25 Mar 23 - 06:38 AM (#4168358) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw And it's fine to start a sentence with a conjunction. But that's not what my teachers used to say. |
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25 Mar 23 - 07:28 AM (#4168362) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mrrzy Tattie, those are different words, not the same word spelled differently. |
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25 Mar 23 - 07:58 AM (#4168367) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Georgiansilver I before E except after C except when your foreign neighbour Keith received eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters…. Weird eh?? |
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25 Mar 23 - 09:17 AM (#4168376) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw :-) We were told some daft things at school, weren't we? |
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25 Mar 23 - 10:13 AM (#4168390) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stanron Are you homophonicphobic? |
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25 Mar 23 - 10:15 AM (#4168392) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Well, we both went to RC schools, Steve, so maybe even dafter than most :-D |
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25 Mar 23 - 10:28 AM (#4168396) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Donuel Proper nmaes are most varient. |
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25 Mar 23 - 12:07 PM (#4168408) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk I eventually found "desiccant" is right, but it still looks wrong to me. My naïve keyboard lacks an i-umlaut, so I have to usually settle for being naiive, and to MICROS~1 with spelchek. |
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25 Mar 23 - 12:55 PM (#4168417) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw If you're typing proper names or place names it's respectful to keep the word exactly as the source dictates, but I'm in favour of dropping a lot of accents on borrowed foreign words. "Cliche" is now an English word when used in English, so why not ditch the accent? Same with cafe. I'm a volunteer at Bude Memory Café, and they use the accent all the time, so I follow suit. Penguin Cafe Orchestra don't use the accent, so me neither if I mention them. In our recent banter about déjà vu, I kept the accents on, partly because it looks a bit awkward without and partly because the spell-checker puts them in. Makes me look clever, too. ;-) We need the accents on résumé in order to avoid confusion, but I'm not sure about smorgasbord or francais or facade... |
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25 Mar 23 - 01:51 PM (#4168423) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick We need the accents on résumé in order to avoid confusion, but I'm not sure about smorgasbord or francais or facade... I agree about résumé, smorgasbord and facade but francais without the ç just looks wrong to me. DC |
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25 Mar 23 - 01:54 PM (#4168425) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Donuel dehiscent, desiccant, decimate, one of these words is not like the others... |
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25 Mar 23 - 02:42 PM (#4168432) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Bill D Stanron.. as I posted above, my spell checker does allow adding a preferred spelling.. and some have databases to download that give a choice of languages and/or dialects. |
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26 Mar 23 - 09:58 PM (#4168564) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Rapparee I use a sellcheater. I meant I use the spellcheater on my PC. Your know, the think everyone say’s makeshift mistaked. It works fabulous thinks.. |
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27 Mar 23 - 12:21 AM (#4168570) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia That's a good one, Georgiansilver. I've decided not to bother about umlauts in German words. An umlaut simply indicates a variation in the vowel, and heavens, if we all started trying to replicate every variation in vowels, we'd never get done. "Maybe your Spellchecker wants the diaeresis". You mean maybe my spellchecker wants the Pepto-bismol. Seriously, I never heard the word diaeresis before. It's "a mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is sounded in a separate syllable, as in naïve, Brontë." I've seen naive written that way, but I think we stopped doing that years ago because the character isn't on the QWERTY keyboard. |
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27 Mar 23 - 02:38 AM (#4168572) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome I live near Haworth and visit there at least weekly. I can assure you that none of the Bronte signs, shops, place names or souvenirs contain the diaeresis! |
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27 Mar 23 - 05:17 AM (#4168587) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red I before e, except after c, and when the sound is ee. except when it isn't. language moves- estate agents, yoof, marketing men, pop singers - all morph words to sound cool, or hot or wicked or (?), call it fashion and be accurate, and that is only in English English. And without an exhaustive survey I would still bet there are plenty of foreign words we have appropriated that don't follow over-used rule-based clichés. |
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27 Mar 23 - 05:24 AM (#4168589) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red I thought that spell checkers had an 'add' function so that you could include your preferred spelling. they often do, I use FireFox English English and the ise's of this demesne still get undelined, and life is too short to do anything but ignore that one. One of the problems of adding words to your spell check lexicon (sic) is the words we KNOW are right, it ain't necessarily so and worse - anyone else using your PC is now lumbered unless they KNOW! |
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27 Mar 23 - 05:26 AM (#4168590) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome I think that was addressed Date: 25 Mar 23 - 06:36 AM Mr R. |
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27 Mar 23 - 06:36 AM (#4168597) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk One problem with spelcheks that permit additional dictionary entries is that users can put "irregardless" in them without due care and attention. |
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27 Mar 23 - 07:20 AM (#4168598) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Irregardless is a word whether you like it or not. |
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27 Mar 23 - 10:08 AM (#4168623) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk So is the somewhat less jarring Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but I had to grep the net for the correct spelling .... only to find a slightly different speling with a reference from 1931. Fun Facts Dept: the last hand-compiler of a particular dictionary was interviewed on the Today Programme, and admitted he'd put the above word in "just for fun". |
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27 Mar 23 - 10:53 AM (#4168629) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw We see what you did there... |
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27 Mar 23 - 11:00 AM (#4168632) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Irregardless is a word whether you like it or not. As is "albeit" DC |
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27 Mar 23 - 11:15 AM (#4168636) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Never said it wasn't a word, Doug. Just one of those horrors I never want to hear, along with prior to, at the end of the day and going forward. I've recently added "double down" to my list. And daft sentences with Full. Stops. Between. All. The. Words. |
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27 Mar 23 - 11:24 AM (#4168638) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: G-Force Contractual. So many people put an r after the a. (I used to work in contracts, so it's a particular bugbear of mine.) |
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27 Mar 23 - 11:26 AM (#4168640) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome I do find that some worms are hard to smell |
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27 Mar 23 - 12:45 PM (#4168648) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Georgiansilver The place with the longest name in the uk (Wales) is not easy to spell or pronounce. .......Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch |
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27 Mar 23 - 01:50 PM (#4168653) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw There's a place in Orkney called Twatt. Clearly, someone found it a word that was hard to spell. |
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27 Mar 23 - 02:42 PM (#4168657) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Dave, thanks for the info about Haworth. Here's another class of spelling problem that I have: words with -gue at the end versus -que. But it's a finger problem more than a sound problem. I mean that my fingers wand to type -gue because it's easier to reach. Then my ears tell me that "picturesque" (for example) needs the q. ========== As for weight and beige, the complete rule says I before e except after c or as sounded like a as in "Neighbor" and "weigh." Then you've got to remember that "weird" is weird. Various sources claim that "feisty" is descended from "fart," but I don't believe that. |
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27 Mar 23 - 02:55 PM (#4168658) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia I just found another hard-to-spell word: minutiae. And I just learned a new slang term: inside baseball. Something inside baseball is something detailed and minute, of interest only to experts. |
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27 Mar 23 - 08:42 PM (#4168697) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Interesting thing about "feisty" is that it was used in the song Kilkelly which told the tale of letters exchanged between members of a family separated by the Atlantic Ocean between the years 1860 and 1892. Yet the word was not recorded as having been in use until at least 1896... |
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28 Mar 23 - 02:26 AM (#4168704) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red eventually (contractually) In UK means it will happen In Europe means depending on events But we can agree on the spelling. |
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28 Mar 23 - 06:13 AM (#4168709) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Manitas_at_home Was 'feisty' used in the actual letters or just the song? |
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28 Mar 23 - 10:12 AM (#4168722) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw In the last verse: "He was a strong and a feisty old man, Considering his life was so hard. And it's funny the way he kept talking about you, He called for you in the end. Oh, why don't you think about coming to visit, We'd all love to see you again." ...which implies that it was said in a letter. Plenty of room for poetic licence, of course! |
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28 Mar 23 - 11:47 AM (#4168735) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick ...which implies that it was said in a letter. Not really, just that the songwriter didn't spot the anachronism. Even Shakespeare managed to have striking clocks in Julius Caesar's Rome even thougn they weren't invented until the 14th century. DC |
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28 Mar 23 - 12:22 PM (#4168739) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Manitas_at_home The letters have been published online here https://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/kilkelly/history/kilkelly-ireland-song-feb-1893.html I'm sorry that I can't seem to operate the link maker from my phone. The final letter does not use the word 'feisty' although it may have been used by another writer. |
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28 Mar 23 - 12:40 PM (#4168740) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Ye gods, Doug. I did mention poetic licence! |
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28 Mar 23 - 12:59 PM (#4168743) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Poetic licence would suggest that the writer had knowingly stretched the point. More likely is that the point was missed altogether. Erm, ... what has all this got do do with spelling? DC |
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28 Mar 23 - 03:16 PM (#4168751) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia It has to do with having to stop and think how to spell "license." Something I have to do rather often. "Feisty" was used upthread. I'm not at my most awake right now, but I can't think of another word in which ei is pronounced as long i, unless it's clearly German, as in beerstein. Maybe it's just me. |
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28 Mar 23 - 04:39 PM (#4168758) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick I can't think of another word in which ei is pronounced as long i Height Sleight Eiderdown Kaleidoscope Seismology Rottweiler (from German) Apartheid (from Dutch) Eisteddfod (Welsh, but significant in the world of folk music) DC |
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28 Mar 23 - 04:46 PM (#4168759) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Keir Starmer is weird but carries no weight with me. |
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30 Mar 23 - 03:46 PM (#4168794) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red fancy sign on the back of a car - see image car owned by John Kerry, not the US politician (JHK reg plate) If you can read this your to close a bad spell of whether? Though he is a successful shop owner - cookers/ovens/hobs etc - bought my 'fridge from him 23 years ago, still going strong. |
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30 Mar 23 - 05:37 PM (#4168798) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw "Fridge": interesting. There's a 'd' in there that isn't in "refrigerator..." |
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30 Mar 23 - 07:39 PM (#4168821) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Stilly River Sage Indictment. Indicted. Indict. I bet Trump has figured out how to spell the words that sound like "enditement." |
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31 Mar 23 - 10:03 AM (#4168861) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk > It has to do with having to stop and think how to spell "license." > Something I have to do rather often. Something us right-pondians have to do twice: for some reason, the English mutated the noun to "licence", while retaining "license" for the verb. Mebbe it's to do with us never having got over 1066, but developing an inferiority complex over French spelling. |
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31 Mar 23 - 10:25 AM (#4168863) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk Help! --- I think I've sprained the 'Cat, but I don't know how. Is there a MudElf in the house? |
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31 Mar 23 - 10:30 AM (#4168864) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk Panic over: the extra gubbins at top-of-page wandered away of its own accord. Curious, and of course can't be reproduced. |
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31 Mar 23 - 11:15 AM (#4168874) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Rapparee Anything in Gaelic, Irish, Basque, Manx, Cornish, Breton, Welsh…. |
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31 Mar 23 - 01:49 PM (#4168891) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Well, thank you, MaJoCo! So that's why I've been insecure about license -license all this time. Steve, that' a good observation about fridge versus refrigerator. I think there are two reasons. 1. We deal with words in groups. We already have bridge, ridge, and smidge, so why not fridge? 2. If we use only the letters in refrigerator, we get "frige." That looks like a word with a long I. No good. |
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31 Mar 23 - 01:51 PM (#4168892) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Fulfil. Fulfill. Fullfil. Fullfill. Focusing. Focussing. Focused. Focussed. Repellent. Repellant. |
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31 Mar 23 - 05:02 PM (#4168899) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk Fridge (hm) .... When I was in primary school, I learnt that Frigidaire objected under trademark laws to their name being verbed; they then mounted a publicity campaign to get everybody saying "fridge" instead, and that it's a contraction of "refrigerator", not of "frigidaire". The campaign seems to have been successful over this side of the puddle. Meanwhile, Hoover lost an exactly similar (slightly later?) lawsuit over *their* trademarked name being verbed. Irony Dept: Hoover is still (ahem) going strong .... but I've only ever seen a Frigidaire fridge once in my lifetime. .... Meanwhile, back at the subthread, methinks the D migrated into "fridge" before the rest of the word got chopped off, and has lodged itself so firmly there that I've have to double-check "refrigerator" every time I've typed it in full in writing this. |
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31 Mar 23 - 06:53 PM (#4168903) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick "Fridge": interesting. There's a 'd' in there that isn't in "refrigerator..." A rather dated example, but "perambulator" lost an 'e' when it was shortened to "pram". DC |
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31 Mar 23 - 07:25 PM (#4168907) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick A veggie burger is suitable for vegetarians. DC |
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01 Apr 23 - 07:03 AM (#4168934) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Georgiansilver floccinaucinihilipilification is not an easy word to spell correctly. I often make smelling mistakes. |
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01 Apr 23 - 07:27 AM (#4168937) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw What I like about "antidisestablishmentarianistically" is its sheer simplicity, positively almost phonetic. |
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03 Apr 23 - 11:05 PM (#4169188) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Those are good, real-life examples, Steve. Thanks. |
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04 Apr 23 - 03:27 AM (#4169199) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: BobL For years I spelled "anemone" as "anenome", and sometimes pronounced it that way too. Horticultural jokes referring to fronds and anemones didn't improve matters. I should be OK though if I can remember it contains the anonym "Nemo". |
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04 Apr 23 - 04:26 AM (#4169202) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw I sometimes wonder about the faintly poetic car park sign, "Have you paid and displayed?" I once saw "Have you payed and displayed?" I"m now waiting for "paid and displaid"! |
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05 Apr 23 - 10:22 PM (#4169344) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia No, Steve, old son. To displaid someone is to take away his Scottish woolen cloak. |
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08 Apr 23 - 10:04 AM (#4169477) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia I was looking at a video about Donald Trump's arraignment, and the judge told him that any more dumb and dangerous stunts from him, (I paraphrase) and the trial would be conducted in his "absense." The transcript was on the screen, that's how I saw it. I looked at "absense" and thought, "That looks fuuny." But actually, the spoken word can be taken two ways. absence = not being present absense = not having sense, similar to abnormal. I like it. |
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08 Apr 23 - 12:11 PM (#4169486) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw A word that's being used more and more in a way that galls me is "multiple." It's used to replace much more elegant expressions such as "a lot of", "many", "several", etc. it might not be wrong but that doesn't mean I have to like it. |
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09 Apr 23 - 05:19 AM (#4169519) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mr Red interesting, nobody (except me) spelled 'fridge with an apostrophe. Common usage - ditto with 'flu - who bothers with the ' nowadays Interestingly I pluralize walk through in ceilidh discussions reasoning that walk should follow the courts marshal and brigadiers general rules. In that we do a lot of walking and through doesn't pluralise. But some callers disagree. And they have the mic. |
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09 Apr 23 - 05:48 AM (#4169522) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Reinhard Another word hard to spell. It's courts martial. |
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09 Apr 23 - 06:44 AM (#4169524) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Dave the Gnome Surely fridge and flu should have two apostrophes! |
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09 Apr 23 - 04:30 PM (#4169565) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Steve, I agree with you about "multiple." It's hard to explain, but it's just an ugly word. Science writers seem to use it when they don't know how many of something there is, but they still want to sound impressive. "The male swallows make multiple flights over the pond, catching insects to take back to the nest." Another way of saying we have no idea how many. |
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09 Apr 23 - 05:40 PM (#4169570) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: robomatic I just learned to misspell armeggadon. |
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09 Apr 23 - 05:43 PM (#4169571) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw That's a very good example of what I mean, leeneia. It's not exactly incorrect but it's...well...awful! |
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09 Apr 23 - 06:00 PM (#4169574) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Flu with an apostrophe is so unusual that, these days when you see it, it looks like an affectation. As for fridge, you could argue that it isn't derived from "refrigerator." I mean, what's going on with that 'd'? |
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10 Apr 23 - 03:21 AM (#4169586) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: BobL "Human language is a reflection of humans: illogical, held together with gum and bailing wire. Just don’t try to fix it." - Anu Garg of wordsmith.org |
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10 Apr 23 - 04:47 AM (#4169587) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick "a lot of", "many", "several", etc. Why use any of those words when there is a perfectly good word:- "multiple". DC |
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10 Apr 23 - 05:10 AM (#4169588) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: MaJoC the Filk > I mean, what's going on with that 'd'? It's stopping "fridge being mispronounced "frig", which would be fridging annoying. |
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10 Apr 23 - 11:37 AM (#4169618) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Another word that's hard to spell: hors dourvres, or however you spell that. It occurs to me that we use this word perfectly comfortably in speech, and we don't think "Oh, a foreign word!" Yet when it comes to writing it, it becomes alien. Do French people have trouble spelling it? |
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10 Apr 23 - 12:17 PM (#4169620) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: meself "hors dourvres, or however you spell that" - Never mind spelling it: how do you say it?? That's one (two? three?) of those words, like "genre", which should be banned from the English language as "unpronounceable". |
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10 Apr 23 - 12:26 PM (#4169621) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Or dervs. Wear a beret when you say it and have a string of onions dangling from your handlebars. Alors. |
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11 Apr 23 - 08:00 AM (#4169669) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Yeah. Rhymes with 'for nerves.' |
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11 Apr 23 - 10:03 AM (#4169680) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw I don't know how to say "ma mère l'oye". |
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11 Apr 23 - 10:58 AM (#4169682) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Lighter Wot, no "syzygy"? |
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11 Apr 23 - 11:28 AM (#4169684) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Or Szczecin? |
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17 Apr 23 - 10:20 PM (#4170232) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Here's one I had to look up: hemorrhaged. |
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18 Apr 23 - 09:34 AM (#4170259) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Mrrzy I before E Except after C Unless pronounced A As in neighbor or weigh Exceptions: neither (is it) weird (for) foreigners (to) seize (their) leisure. People only taught that first line or 2 are led astray. Leisure, on a separate note, is one of the truly rare words in English with a soft j sound. No preceding D sound like in Judge or juniper. |
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18 Apr 23 - 12:22 PM (#4170268) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: meself "Or dervs" - Okay; I suppose that would explain the funny looks I get whenever I ask anyone if they'd like to try the 'horse doovers'. |
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18 Apr 23 - 01:03 PM (#4170273) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick Leisure, on a separate note, is one of the truly rare words in English with a soft j sound. Measure; Pleasure; Treasure; Seizure DC |
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18 Apr 23 - 01:06 PM (#4170274) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Good point, Mrrzy. soft j - leisure, as you say. Also measure, treasure, pleasure, azure. I suppose these all have the same origin, probably French. I think of them as zh sounds rather than soft j, but same difference. |
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18 Apr 23 - 01:19 PM (#4170279) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw None of them sound much like a soft j to me. |
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19 Apr 23 - 06:27 PM (#4170318) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick None of them sound much like a soft j to me. Definitely a soft j - like the French, first person singular pronoun "je". DC |
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19 Apr 23 - 06:56 PM (#4170322) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Yebbut you're a bloody northerner, Doug. It's more of a schh than a jshhh.... unless you've gone all posh, of course... |
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19 Apr 23 - 10:30 PM (#4170331) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: leeneia Came across another tricky one - scalloped or scallopped, as in scalloped potatoes. |
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20 Apr 23 - 06:20 AM (#4170338) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Doug Chadwick It's more of a schh than a jshhh.... schh can be heard in "thresher" It's jshcc in "leisure". DC |
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20 Apr 23 - 11:34 AM (#4170359) Subject: RE: BS: words that are hard to spell From: Steve Shaw Mary had a little lamb She fed it on Scotch scallops And every time it tried to walk It fell down on its Hands and knees (toujours la politesse...) |