I come across so many web pages with common spelling mistakes and misused phrases. Most of them – given the sites I frequent – are on writers’ articles, often about writing.
Here, for your personal edification, are some more of those that really set me off.
1. Buisness – yes, it’s obviously just a transposition of two letters, but that’s what the wiggly red spell-checker lines are for! FireFox has one built in!
2. Catergories – how can you spell this wrong? It’s on every single blog post entry screen.
3. for awhile now- “awhile” is an adverb and is only really used in poems. “Come, rest awhile” and all that. You have to wear flowery dresses or live in a dingy garret to write like that. Normal people don’t use it. “A while” is the noun. That’s the one you want.
4. easygoing – ever heard of a hyphen? You know, those little lines that have been around for about five hundred years and join words together? “Easy” and “going” are separate words.
5. my curiosity is peaked – so your curiosity is a physical object that has a pointed top? Eh? You mean “piqued”, I think.
6. everyday and anymore – “uuunnnnnnnnngggggghhhh!” That’s the sound of my love of language haemorrhaging violently. Both of these are adjectives – “an everyday event” – not adverbs. The adverb versions are two words: “I do this every day. I can’t take it any more.”
7. you looser – the oft-voiced retort to Grammar Nazis like myself pointing out spelling mistakes, this one really stands out. Who’s the “loser” now?
8. tollerance – repeatedly wrong in an article on – yes, you guessed it – tolerance for spelling mistakes in job applications! Come on, even the browser spell-checkers spot that one!
And finally, a couple of bonus items to make you laugh.
Firstly, we have a repost of a well-known email poem that points out just how useless a spell-checker is if you don’t apply a bit of common sense.
Here, for your personal edification, are some more of those that really set me off.
1. Buisness – yes, it’s obviously just a transposition of two letters, but that’s what the wiggly red spell-checker lines are for! FireFox has one built in!
2. Catergories – how can you spell this wrong? It’s on every single blog post entry screen.
3. for awhile now- “awhile” is an adverb and is only really used in poems. “Come, rest awhile” and all that. You have to wear flowery dresses or live in a dingy garret to write like that. Normal people don’t use it. “A while” is the noun. That’s the one you want.
4. easygoing – ever heard of a hyphen? You know, those little lines that have been around for about five hundred years and join words together? “Easy” and “going” are separate words.
5. my curiosity is peaked – so your curiosity is a physical object that has a pointed top? Eh? You mean “piqued”, I think.
6. everyday and anymore – “uuunnnnnnnnngggggghhhh!” That’s the sound of my love of language haemorrhaging violently. Both of these are adjectives – “an everyday event” – not adverbs. The adverb versions are two words: “I do this every day. I can’t take it any more.”
7. you looser – the oft-voiced retort to Grammar Nazis like myself pointing out spelling mistakes, this one really stands out. Who’s the “loser” now?
8. tollerance – repeatedly wrong in an article on – yes, you guessed it – tolerance for spelling mistakes in job applications! Come on, even the browser spell-checkers spot that one!
And finally, a couple of bonus items to make you laugh.
Firstly, we have a repost of a well-known email poem that points out just how useless a spell-checker is if you don’t apply a bit of common sense.
EYE HALVE A SPELLING CHEQUER
IT CAME WITH MY PEA SEA
IT PLAINLY MARQUES FOUR MY REVUE
MISS STEAKS EYE KIN KNOT SEA.
EYE STRIKE A KEY AND TYPE A WORD
AND WEIGHT FOUR IT TWO SAY
WEATHER EYE AM WRONG OAR WRITE
IT SHOWS ME STRAIT A WEIGH.
AS SOON AS A MIST ACHE IS MAID
IT NOSE BEE FORE TWO LONG
AND EYE CAN PUT THE ERROR RITE
ITS RARE LEA EVER WRONG.
EYE HAVE RUN THIS POEM THREW IT
I AM SHORE YOUR PLEASED TWO NO
ITS LETTER PERFECT AWL THE WEIGH
MY CHEQUER TOLLED ME SEW.
IT CAME WITH MY PEA SEA
IT PLAINLY MARQUES FOUR MY REVUE
MISS STEAKS EYE KIN KNOT SEA.
EYE STRIKE A KEY AND TYPE A WORD
AND WEIGHT FOUR IT TWO SAY
WEATHER EYE AM WRONG OAR WRITE
IT SHOWS ME STRAIT A WEIGH.
AS SOON AS A MIST ACHE IS MAID
IT NOSE BEE FORE TWO LONG
AND EYE CAN PUT THE ERROR RITE
ITS RARE LEA EVER WRONG.
EYE HAVE RUN THIS POEM THREW IT
I AM SHORE YOUR PLEASED TWO NO
ITS LETTER PERFECT AWL THE WEIGH
MY CHEQUER TOLLED ME SEW.
Secondly, we have possibly the best public spelling mistake ever. It is the picture back at the beginning of this post. Yes, it’s real. How sad.
So tell me, what are the mistakes that drive you crazy? Which ones do you always make yourself? (Mine is “independent” – for some reason, I want to put an “a” in the place of the last “e”.)
So tell me, what are the mistakes that drive you crazy? Which ones do you always make yourself? (Mine is “independent” – for some reason, I want to put an “a” in the place of the last “e”.)
well just the use of the non-word, "irregardless" -- evidently it is the most often misused word. It should just be REGARDLESS... :)
ReplyDeleteRe peaked...i know about piqued.etc. but what if someone isn't looking well...like pale...sickly... sometimes my mother would say you look peaked - peak ed... do you like the way I used ... for thot separations instead of the good grammar I was taught in school? ... good ;)
I have a dreem...that every one will know how to spell "receive" correctly...and that he and she will also use "its" and "it's" in proper places. Of course, if I don't use spellcheck and my "believe" comes out "beleive", there's no one to blame but meself!
ReplyDelete