# Common mispellings that seem to be taking over. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058 "2007-06-22T21:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/141 "2007-06-27T13:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Edit: How the hell do you even pronounce au fait? Is it like “aw feh”? [/QUOTE] Just like “Oh Fay” (in English, at any rate). ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/142 "2007-06-27T13:39:51Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Wow, **guizot** , you are the most literal minded person I’ve ever encountered. It seems that nobody is allowed to use colorful, descriptive language around you. If I said I “argued til I was blue in the face” about something, I’d bet a crisp $20 that you’d come in sniping at me for the huge lie about my face actually turning blue. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Oh, really? What if you only had two tens? What if you had a twenty, but it was a few years old and wasn’t crisp? Would you have to launder, dry and iron it so it’d be crisp and you could have your little wager? Damnit, woman, words **mean** something! (Well, I enjoy my little jokes.) ETA: Not a misspelling so much as an unnecessary made-up word: “crispy”. Some advertising agency schmuck took a good word, “crisp”, and added a _y_ to make a new word **that means the same thing as the original word.** Never mind the idiocy of adding _y_ to an adjective. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/143 "2007-06-27T13:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I think you are confusing “the English-speaking world” with “the United States”, or possibly even “California”. In a UK restaurant that used the French term on the menu (I think it is used less commonly over here anyway), you would certainly be considered ill-educated if you asked for your beef “with au jus”. Maybe English people are more au fait (heh) with the workings of French, and so are less likely to mangle it. Similarly, Americans tend to be more at ease with Spanish, so they don’t ask for “Jall-uh-pee-noes” and so on like a lot of Brits do. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Hal-a-_pen_-yoes? Little extra emphasis on the initial aspirate? ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/144 "2007-06-27T16:32:31Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Precisely why I brought it up in this thread: “another thing coming” seems to be displacing the original “another think coming” in the collective consciousness. In much the same way, the original “for pity’s sake” has become “for Pete’s sake.” Mis-hearing becomes misspelling. [/QUOTE] I think it’s a combination of “mis-hearing becomes misspelling” plus the fact that sometimes the new form has its own logic and charm: “I will never step foot in that place again.” (instead of ‘set foot’) I never heard ‘step foot’ before, say, the last five years. I have come to like it and am beginning to use it, though I didn’t mis-hear, and try never to misspell or misspeak. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/145 "2007-06-27T16:56:59Z")
Maybe not frequent, but a spelling and pronunciation that I used to use and have altered since being corrected is habañero for habanero. There is no tilde in the spelling and, thus, no “ny” sound in the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/146 "2007-06-27T18:57:44Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] Not a misspelling so much as an unnecessary made-up word: “crispy”. Some advertising agency schmuck took a good word, “crisp”, and added a _y_ to make a new word **that means the same thing as the original word.** Never mind the idiocy of adding _y_ to an adjective. [/QUOTE] What about “vasty?” You like that word. Schmuck. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/147 "2007-06-27T23:07:41Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > ETA: Not a misspelling so much as an unnecessary made-up word: “crispy”. Some advertising agency schmuck took a good word, “crisp”, and added a y to make a new word that means the same thing as the original word. Never mind the idiocy of adding y to an adjective. Just because a suit made it up doesn’t mean it’s not a perfectly cromulent word. “Crispy” and “crisp” are two entirely different words that mean different things. You wouldn’t call a burger “crisp” and you wouldn’t call a dollar bill “crispy”. [QUOTE=pulykamell] Maybe not frequent, but a spelling and pronunciation that I used to use and have altered since being corrected is habañero for habanero. There is no tilde in the spelling and, thus, no “ny” sound in the pronunciation. [/QUOTE] I think it’s almost more interesting that we pronounce the “h” where it’s silent in Spanish. We have no problem lopping off word-initial h sounds in our own language – “Letsaff a look then, eh?”–but doing it to other languages’ words makes us nervous somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/148 "2007-06-28T00:13:33Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Gandhi is a transliteration from another language. I don’t know that there is a “correct” weah\* of spelling it. [/QUOTE] Gandhi is as nearly correct as possible, since it reflects the fact that the “d” is aspirated (accompanied by a puff of air when pronounced). “Gandi”, if it exists in Hindi, would be considered by a native speaker to be a different word with a different meaning, as we would do with _cat_ and _cad_. Similarly with “Ghandi”, if that exists in the language. To a Hindi speaker it would be a different word. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/149 "2007-06-28T01:28:15Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Thru [/QUOTE] My boss spells it this way, too. Drives me nuts when the other people in the office transcribe it that way. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/150 "2007-06-28T01:50:33Z")
With fewer people learning Latin the following misspellings are understandable, but I still find them grating (and increasingly common IME): _ad nauseum_ for _ad nauseam_ _non sequitor_ for _non sequitur_ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/151 "2007-06-28T02:08:44Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] Well, they’re in good company. I had to look up that one. Webster’s Ninth Collegiate\* gives “chaise lounge” as a seperate entry (referencing “chaise longue”), and says the variant has been around at least since 1921. The two are pronounced differently. [/QUOTE] The fact that people were making this mistake in 1921 doesn’t mean they should continue to do so. The sad truth is Americans are very, very poor when it comes to spelling (and pronouncing) recent French additions to the language. Scroll up to the _au jus_ discussion for more on that. Actually, along the lines of “with au jus”, I nominate “the _hoi polloi_”. I know, there’s one you see every day, right? Just trust me, people- your “the” is redundant. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/152 "2007-06-28T02:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] The fact that people were making this mistake in 1921 doesn’t mean they should continue to do so. The sad truth is Americans are very, very poor when it comes to spelling (and pronouncing) recent French additions to the language. Scroll up to the _au jus_ discussion for more on that. Actually, along the lines of “with au jus”, I nominate “the _hoi polloi_”. I know, there’s one you see every day, right? Just trust me, people- your “the” is redundant. [/QUOTE] At 151 I get to finally see my favorite bit of pedantry. 🙂 I don’t get to use it often as I am, sadly part of hoi polloi. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/153 "2007-06-28T02:35:59Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > The fact that people were making this mistake in 1921 doesn’t mean they should continue to do so. The fact that people have been saying it the same way since 1921 means it’s not a mistake. > [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > The sad truth is Americans are very, very poor when it comes to spelling (and pronouncing) recent French additions to the language. “Recent French additions” are English, once English-speaking people start using them in English-language contexts. When you’re talking to the cashier at Quizno’s, “au jus” is no more French than “mayonnaise”, and if someone chided you for “mispronouncing” mayonnaise “like a typical American”, you’d tell them they were an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/154 "2007-06-28T02:48:17Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Wow, **guizot** , you are the most literal minded person I’ve ever encountered. It seems that nobody is allowed to use colorful, descriptive language around you. If I said I “argued til I was blue in the face” about something, I’d bet a crisp $20 that you’d come in sniping at me for the huge lie about my face actually turning blue. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] With all due respect, **Opal** (and I’ve been respecting you for many years), I believe I was positing the opposite of your assertion. I was saying, “Hey, give the gal/guy a break; s/he may not know the correct spelling, but we can understand what s/he was trying to say.” English is full of homophones and homonyms, but most people can get the idea if they just consider the context. Usually spoken language helps in this context, even if it’s a written posting on a message board. Being literal or figurative, and using idioms are a completely different set of issues that have nothing to do with the OP. “My face was turning blue,” is not a misspelling; it’s an idiom. So why do you bother to bring it in to this discussion? Your examples are all idioms: “'til I was blue in the face,” is not misspelled. So why do you even bring it up? **Opal,** if you truly think I am one of the “most literal minded persons _sic_ [you’ve] encountered,” I humbly suggest that you check some of my past posts. Granted, most of them have been feeble-minded; but they often stray away from the literal. I can only assume that you’ve never been into any legal problems; _those_ (lawyers) are the most literal people you’ll encounter. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/155 "2007-06-28T15:07:39Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] **Opal,** if you truly think I am one of the “most literal minded persons _sic_ [you’ve] encountered,” I humbly suggest that you check some of my past posts. [/QUOTE] I have no idea what your other posts are like. This is the first time I’ve seen your name. I still stand by my post. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/156 "2007-06-29T21:39:30Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] I have no idea what your other posts are like. This is the first time I’ve seen your name. I still stand by my post. [/QUOTE] I think we’re cross-talking here. I obviously don’t think that **jjim** is likely to become literally violent and smash the glass around the Constitution :rolleyes:. It was (an attempt at least at) a humorous way of making a point. The figurative (i.e., the **opposite of literal** ) use of saying that someone’s misspelling makes him or her want to do violent things is not what I have a problem with (in fact, that part is what I liked). It’s the degree of sentiment behind those figurative phrases that I was commenting on. You can say “It bothers me when someone writes ‘thru’” or you can say I want to pull out a shot gun and blow their head off when some writes ‘thru’.". Obviously it’s not for literary effect. It’s to show how strongly it bothers you. I was simply saying that such vehemence seemed rather extreme to me. And, in fact, I was being figurative (NOT literal) by telling **jjim** to “take a Valium.” (Because IANAD–that’s another joke…you **do** get that one, don’t you?) There is a term for this in discourse studies, but I forget what it is. It’s when you maintain an atypical register or manner of discourse with someone–like playing along with someone after they make a pun, by making another pun in response. Does that clarify things? I think so. So you can sit down now…(Get it?) ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/157 "2007-07-04T23:18:15Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] What, exactly, do you think a google search proves? Googling “I could care less” yields 1,060,000 hits. Googling “I couldn’t care less” yields 655,000 hits. Shall we go with majority rule on that one, too? [/QUOTE] While I agree with your point, that Google-hit-popularity is not the same as correctness, you chose a poor example. The hit-iest version above, “I could care less,” isn’t a bad usage; it’s an ironic usage, on a par with “we should all have it so hard.” Your own Michael Quinion [concurs](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm): > [@](#): > > It is so clearly logical nonsense that to condemn it for being so (as some commentators have done) misses the point. The intent is obviously sarcastic — the speaker is really saying, “As if there was something in the world that I care less about”. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/158 "2007-07-04T23:26:42Z")
Wrong spelling —\> right spelling: Seperate —\> separate (I’ve seen this one in this very thread) Lead (past tense of “to lead”) —\> led ( **Baldwin** already mentioned this) Lightening —\> lightning Athelete —\> athlete Irridescent —\> iridescent Sacreligious —\> sacrilegious Mischievious —\> mischievous (also “grievious —\> grievous,” and many other words that should end in -ous that are becoming -ious) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/159 "2007-07-05T17:25:55Z")
Incorrect: Using the verb “contaminates” as a noun. Correct: The word is “contaminants.” e.g. The concentration of _contaminants_ in the groundwater were below regulatory criteria. I see “contaminates” used as a noun just about every day. The problem is that it is a word in its own right (a verb), so spell-checkers don’t flag it. Also, “orientate” instead of “orient”. This battle has been going on for over 150 years, to the point that “orientate” has entered the language as an actual word. Nevertheless, it’s a much newer word than “orient,” evidently being coined as a back-formation from “orientation.” Personally, I just cringe when hear that a new employee is being “orientated.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058/160 "2007-07-05T18:54:49Z")
Dagnabbit, folks, the words “phenomena” and “criteria” are plural! If you only have one of them, it’s a phenomenon or a criterion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-mispellings-that-seem-to-be-taking-over/409058.md?page=9)