A thread, in IMHO, reasonably popular, has me gritting my teeth every time I open the forum. The problem: the most irritating mispelling in the English language, there, in full bold, in the title.
Before you cry to me that it was a typo: click the link, read the thread. It’s there again, in the body of the OP. Why is this the word that crops up in a mis-spelt form so often, even on the SDMB. It’s not exactly complicated, like, say ‘accommodation’.
For the spelling impaired:
Lose: (as was intended in the above thread title) - Link
Loose: Link
PS: I felt the Pit needed a break from politics. What’s better than a good ol’ s/p/g (spelling/punctuation/grammar) rant?
Bah, that’s nothing. Would you like to see the absolute worst, most egregious, irritating and rage-inducing spelling error that one can make?
Children should cover their eyes, the squeamish should look away, parental discretion advised, it’s:
“Ludacrist” instead of “ludicrous”!
GAAHH!! I usually don’t make a big deal about this type of thing, but whenever I see that particular abomination on the web I feel compelled to find out where the offender lives, hop on a plane, and stuff the illiterate little twit into a dumpster.
I guess it’s annoying because it’s not just an innocent one-letter mistake or confusion between two valid words (i.e. loose<->lose, it’s<->its), but a complete and total mangling of the proper spelling! I mean, how dumb do you have to be to both a) think it’s actually pronounced that way, and b) not notice your mistake when you see the word spelled correctly at least several times a week?
I believe that the quadruple initial “a” is an accepted spelling in the States, while the OED lists the double “a” as the accepted English spelling. But you are right in one thing…the triple terminal “h” is just sloppy grammar.
You think that was a spelling error? I assumed that the OP in that thread meant that since the dogs of war have already been loosed, there was nothing more to loose.
There is one even more common than “loose”. It’s the use of “it’s” used instead of “its”. “It’s” means “It is”. “Its” refers to possession. Remember-It’s its.
I am an English teacher and the words on my students’ spelling list every year are “loose/lose.” However, my favorite spelling hobby horse is “definitely” and I have posted about it several times on this board. Why is it so hard for people to spell these words correctly? 'Tis a mystery for the ages.
bluecanary
Well, being a Boston resident (we’re all intellectual, stuck-up snobs you know), I think it is important to spell words correctly. Also, you said this thread would not be political? You’ve got to be joking !!!
With George Dubya Bush as our nation’s President for another 4 years, we have a rather poor role model for our citizens to improve they’re spellable and speakable skills.
It’s a little bit hard. My dear intelligent husband – speaker of 5 languages, graduate of prestigious universities – has trouble spelling it. It’s the whole “lose rhymes with choose” issue. Loose, lose, choose, chose – he’s always asking me which is which. English is not his first language, so I’m cutting him some slack. Since living with him, I’ve cooled down a bit on the Spelling Nazi front, and I’m even willing to ignore these spellings in most folks’ everyday writing.
However, if I get a professional letter with “loose” misspelled, you can guarantee I’m not going to want to do business with your company. :mad:
As far as other common misspellings on this board, if I were Weirddave I would have had a coronary by now (64 hits for “Wierddave” by searching; I think the hamsters would go on strike if I searched for “wierd”).
