# Aarghhh! It's not that hard to spell the damn word! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554 "2004-11-07T23:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/41 "2004-11-08T21:40:20Z")
The worse thing that can happen to you is loosing the breaks in you’re car. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/42 "2004-11-08T21:41:32Z")
My all-time usage pet peeve: discretely/discreetly. The vast majority of the time, the word the person wants is **discreetly** (Showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect. Free from ostentation or pretension; modest.). Yet everyone and his brother spells it **discretely** (consisting of unconnected distinct parts, distinct.). ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/43 "2004-11-08T22:05:37Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I think your getting upset over nothing. Why? He had nothing to… ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/44 "2004-11-09T00:42:33Z")
> [@Nutty Bunny](#): > > It’s 80s with no apostrophe, as far as I’m concerned. Really? I always write it as '80s, with the logic that the 19 is omitted and the apostrophe indicates that stuff was left off. This style seems to be in the minority, but is it wrong? > [@lisacurl](#): > > My all-time usage pet peeve: discretely/discreetly So true. A good way to remember the difference, for those who have trouble, is: in discreet, the E’s are hiding together, but in discrete, the E’s are separate. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/45 "2004-11-09T01:39:13Z")
> [@cityboy916](#): > > Really? I always write it as '80s, with the logic that the 19 is omitted and the apostrophe indicates that stuff was left off. This style seems to be in the minority, but is it wrong? **Nutty** is talking about the other apostrophe, the one before the _s_. 80\*\*’\*\*s '80’s looks pretty clunky. It almost looks like you’re talking about the “eighties” (ie not really the eighties). If you use the leading apostrophe then you’re forced to leave the second one out. If you leave the first one then I think it becomes a matter of style as to whether you use the second. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/46 "2004-11-09T02:04:30Z")
Khiadra, the person who reads too many comics, has THIS to contribute! [How to remember the difference between ‘loose’ and ‘lose’.](http://www.aperfectworld.org/cartoons/looser.gif) Now there’s no excuse for forgetting the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/47 "2004-11-09T02:30:19Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > My jaw-clencher of choice is “woah.” I don’t know what the hell that’s supposed to mean. I think it’s the word that some people think you’d say to make a horse stop. But that word is “whoa” and I will harp on this for a long time, because “woah” is not only stupid, if you have ever heard of Noah, the dude with the boat, you’d have to know that “woah” would end up being a two-syllable word, the last sound of which would **not** be a long O sound. My personal belief is that the spelling to differentiate between the horseman version of the word and the stoner/slacker/surfer dude version of the word, which, IMO, have different connotations. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/48 "2004-11-09T03:01:32Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#): > > **Nutty** is talking about the other apostrophe, the one before the _s_. Sorry, I should have been clearer. :o I agree with **Nutty** that it should not be written as 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/49 "2004-11-09T05:58:46Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > The worse thing that can happen to you is loosing the breaks in you’re car. while masterbating. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/50 "2004-11-09T07:29:01Z")
> [@bluecanary](#): > > **DanBlather** : How do you pronounce _often_? “offen”? > > It is pronounced as you described–at least it is in British English. I’m a merkin 🙂 and I say “offen”. Too often those pronouncing the “T” are trying too hard to be “correct”. I know that pronouncing the “T” is acceptable, but it is not preferred. Not sure on the other side of the pond. I’m still trying to suss out how y’all speak over there. (Actually, me mum is English). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/51 "2004-11-09T07:55:42Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Perhaps he died while carving it. Why whould he go on carving it while he was dying? But, if it was being dictated… ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554/52 "2004-11-09T08:22:36Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > My personal belief is that the spelling to differentiate between the horseman version of the word and the stoner/slacker/surfer dude version of the word, which, IMO, have different connotations. That still doesn’t justify the idea that the word spelled “woah” would end with a long O sound. That “ah” has to do something or the word could be spelled “wo” and thereby maintain its “different connotation” from the horseman version of the word. Not to mention that the connotation thing doesn’t hold up, because the word is being used in the exact same manner – as a substitute for the word stop. “Whoa, dude, do you really want to…” (“Stop and think about your choice, my friend.”) “Whoa, I didn’t know…” (“Stop what you’re saying so that I may absorb everything in full.”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aarghhh-its-not-that-hard-to-spell-the-damn-word/273554.md?page=2)