Common mispellings that seem to be taking over.

[Noone_Special]

@Thudlow Boink

Dagnabbit, folks, the words “phenomena” and “criteria” are plural! If you only have one of them, it’s a phenomenon or a criterion.

… or a daton.

Wait…

what?

(Yes, yes, I **know **it’s a “datum”)

[Hostile_Dialect]

@robby

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.”

Really? You’d rather they be “oriented”? Do new employees usually bring a compass and map on the first day?

[OpalCat]

@guizot

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.

I still think you need to learn to deal gracefully with people’s use of hyperbole. If you think you’re funny, you’re mistaken. You just come across as a stick in the mud.

[Not_A_Tame_Lion]

@Auntbeast

There was a sign posted today stating that “the break room is strickly for Company Name Employees.” I changed it to “strictly”. A new sign appeared today, “The break room is exclusively for Company Name Employees.” Yes, exclusively was italicized.

Gah! I thought the ‘strickly’ for ‘strictly’ thing was just a local phenomenon, produced by the morons here in my office. You mean this idiocy is spreading?

I can’t stand it.

[guizot]

@OpalCat

I still think you need to learn to deal gracefully with people’s use of hyperbole. If you think you’re funny, you’re mistaken. You just come across as a stick in the mud.

Well maybe it’s a question of geography; in California, we don’t bother to put sticks in the mud. Why would one want to do such a thing? [Was there something ungraceful about that comment? Did it really offend you?] I believe that, while, maybe it’s not funny, at least it’s not “ungraceful.”

I agree with you COMPLETELY, Opal, that one should deal with people in verbal communication gracefully. I admit that I have not always done that here. How graceful should I be? (I’ve never studied ballet. Was that an ungraceful thing to say?)

I will say, though, that you have a good point that grace comes into language a lot; not so much in SNAE (with the South as an exception) as in East Asian languages.

But I think we’re cross-talking because you still seem to think that I disapprove of such language, when I made a deliberate point of saying I DON’T disapprove of it: I was simply saying:

It’s no problem for me

Will it be ungraceful to quote myself?

@guizot

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).

@guizot

I was simply saying that such vehemence seemed rather extreme to me.

(I.e.), it was not the “hyperbole” that I was commenting on; it was the sentiment. I believe that “hyperbole” should be congruent to sentiment. It seems you don’t. So if someone bumps you in the elevator by accident you say to your co-worker, “I wanted to punch him in the face.”

I say, “Isn’t that a little extreme? It was probably an accident.”

Is that being “ungraceful.?” Or just realistic?

The same thing happens with language. And anyway, this thread was about misspellings, not hyperbole.

[guizot]

@OpalCat

If you think you’re funny, you’re mistaken. You just come across as a stick in the mud.

Well, you maybe be right about that. But here in California we have things like understatement, and irony

Someday they might come to your whereabouts. Then we can do a survey and find out exactly where and how many sticks there are in the mud in the various areas of the country.

[OpalCat]

Jesus Christ, let it go already.

[NajaNivea]

I hope to God these don’t “take over” but within this past week, I saw the following prominently displayed signs.

Painted in huge, neon green letters across the plate-glass window of a local florist:
CUSTOM BO-KAYS

And on a large endcap display of OTC allergy meds within maybe twelve feet of the pharmacy counter, a computer-printed sale sign advertising:

Benadryl Allergy Kapseals

Much weeping and gnashing of teeth ensued. I even pointed this second one out to the girl behind the counter, who sighed and said “I noticed, but no one else cares”.

[fishbicycle]

I’ve mentioned this before, ages ago, but it bears repeating here, to respond to NajaNivea.

I was in the supermarket once, and saw a handwritten sign on a display of Cap’n Crunch cereal that said: “Capten Cronch.”

[Critical_Mass]

I’ve issues with the misuse of the words effect and affect.

[Beware_of_Doug]

@NajaNivea

And on a large endcap display of OTC allergy meds within maybe twelve feet of the pharmacy counter, a computer-printed sale sign advertising:

Benadryl Allergy Kapseals

Much weeping and gnashing of teeth ensued. I even pointed this second one out to the girl behind the counter, who sighed and said “I noticed, but no one else cares”.

No one cares because it’s a goshdarned trade name. Looka here.

@drugstore.com

Benadryl Allergy Kapseals® capsule safety system has been designed with these two features:

An advanced capsule sealing process fuses the two capsule halves together into one secure unit.
A Kapseals safety band has been applied where the capsule halves meet as an additional seal.

[Donovan]

don’t see it here (good job, dopers!), but I see it all over and it drives me absolutely nuts:

rediculous (ridiculous)

[Siam_Sam]

I apologize if it’s been mentioned before, but BBQ for “barbecue.” Since Korean barbecue is popular over here, I see it a lot. Also VDO for “video”; that one is everywhere!

[Fiver]

I just saw an ad by someone who’s giving away her “dinning [sic] room table.” I see that misspelling very often.

In fact, it’s probably a whole class of misspellings: doubling a letter unnecessarily. Or failing to double a letter when it’s called for.

[Ximenean]

One class of (to my mind) misspellings, which fits the OP in that it might now be considered a correct alternative, is to include the E in adjectives like “pricey” and “ropey”. I hate it, but I think that that battle might already have been lost.

[Ludovic]

@Fiver

In fact, it’s probably a whole class of misspellings: doubling a letter unnecessarily. Or failing to double a letter when it’s called for.

We must be loosing our speling skils!

[Fiver]

@Ludovic

We must be loosing our speling skils!

Gahh! MEDIC!

[Beware_of_Doug]

I hesitate to invoke the prosthetic infarction, but your a looser, you morron!

[Sternvogel]

@Fiver

I just saw an ad by someone who’s giving away her “dinning [sic] room table.” I see that misspelling very often.

The local Holiday Inn restaurant advertises CASUAL DINNING. I wonder if the guy who sang Teen Angel is making an informally joyful noise after returning from the Great Beyond…

[BiblioCat]

@Fiver

I just saw an ad by someone who’s giving away her “dinning [sic] room table.” I see that misspelling very often.

You should check out CraigsList - nearly all the furniture listed is ‘wodden.’