# Consistently misspelled, non-complex words. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083 "2012-10-18T00:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/141 "2012-10-19T18:36:34Z")
What’s your point, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/142 "2012-10-19T18:48:51Z")
I thought I had prefaced it with a sentence about errors and hyper-correctness. I copied the text, missing the top sentence-paragraph, shooting my point and myself down in flames when I pasted it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/143 "2012-10-19T20:35:08Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Hey, it worked! I never knew that was an option. Thanks! > > eta: I just added “favourite”, too, on your behalf! Sweet! “Accommodate” is another one - did we do that one already? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/144 "2012-10-19T20:46:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Sweet! > > “Accommodate” is another one - did we do that one already? That’s another one where I have trouble remembering how many letters. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/145 "2012-10-20T02:19:29Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > “Smile your on camera.” Smile my _what_ on camera? ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/146 "2012-10-20T08:40:24Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > Too often I see people confusing “then” and “than.” Makes me stabby. Too often it is published news articles. I see this so often, too. I don’t understand how it goes wrong, with other words maybe it could be hard to tell if you pronounce them the same way or there are double letters or something. I just realised why I see Americans write “make due”: you guys say “due” and “do” the same way. But “then” and “than”? They’re really, really simple words that are pronounced differently! How can this go wrong?! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/147 "2012-10-20T09:35:20Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > I would spend more time at bicycle and automotive boards if it were less common to stop these vehicles using the breaks. It is not a habit of which you can easily brake people. Hooked On Fuckin’ Phonics, man. Hooked On Muthafuckin’ Phonics. We’ve got people running the fuckin’ WORLD who learned to read with that shit. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/148 "2012-10-20T10:09:47Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > I see this so often, too. I don’t understand how it goes wrong, with other words maybe it could be hard to tell if you pronounce them the same way or there are double letters or something. I just realised why I see Americans write “make due”: you guys say “due” and “do” the same way. But “then” and “than”? They’re really, really simple words that are pronounced differently! How can this go wrong?! 😕 It depends. If either word is spoken quickly, either because the speaker is talking fast in general or because its function in the sentence is “weak”, then they tend to be pronounced just about the same, perhaps sometimes even identically. (At least in my English. YMMV.) The vowel becomes a schwa, or disappears completely. (It’s easy to go from a voiced dental fricative to a nasal without inserting a “vowel”. Sometimes, we even spell this fact out – e.g., “rhythm”.) ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/149 "2012-10-20T11:11:12Z")
I am forever trying to spell “ **bizarre** ” with two z’s. I have yet to come up with a technique to help me remember that one. I actually had to look it up before even making this post. I also have a bad habit of trying to insert a double-s into “ **occasion**.” Not sure why. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/150 "2012-10-23T03:59:25Z")
“Breath” instead of “breathe.” “Cloths” instead of “clothes.” ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/151 "2012-10-23T04:03:16Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I am forever trying to spell “ **bizarre** ” with two z’s. I have yet to come up with a technique to help me remember that one. I actually had to look it up before even making this post. > > I also have a bad habit of trying to insert a double-s into “ **occasion**.” Not sure why. I am guilty of both of these as well. “Occasion” trips me up the most though. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/152 "2012-10-23T08:16:47Z")
On a tangent, but what about mispronounced non-complex words? Skelington and nucular spring to mind. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/153 "2012-10-23T08:25:28Z")
…and there seems to be a new breed of dog where I live called a rockweiler. I wonder how long it will be before these words start being spelled this way too, if they aren’t already? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/154 "2012-10-23T09:56:57Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary: > > **Staunch** means to stop the flow of something (cite [here](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/american-english/staunch_2)) > > **Stanch** is the American version of staunch (cite [here](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stanch?q=stanch)) My Oxford dictionary concurs with you. It also lists “gantlet” as "US spelling of ‘gauntlet’ There is no stanch or gantlet in _English_ English ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/155 "2012-10-23T21:02:09Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > On a tangent, but what about mispronounced non-complex words? > > Skelington and nucular spring to mind. Esculator for escalator, perculator for percolator. I think these might be regional, but there are many people here who pronounce “hamburger” as “hammurger” and “Edmonton” as “Emmonton.” My sister always pronounces “especially” as “exspecially.” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/156 "2012-10-23T21:41:59Z")
No one have trouble with _diarrhoea_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![melondeca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@melondeca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melondeca)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/157 "2012-10-23T22:39:20Z")
I just learned the other day that “nickel” is not spelled “nickle.” ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/158 "2012-10-24T00:21:41Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > No one have trouble with _diarrhoea_? 😃 Dammit! :smack: How could I forget that one?! That has to be my number one consistently misspelled, non-complex word. That word has been a menace to me as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/159 "2012-10-24T03:18:51Z")
I used to give an element symbol and name spelling test to ninth graders. Three of the most often misspelled elements were sulfur (sulfer), nickel (nickle), and fluorine (flourine). Multiple ways of misspelling chlorine and phosphorus were also common. This was after having a copy of the test in their possession for over a week. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083/160 "2012-10-24T03:58:08Z")
“Manger” instead of “Manager”. Say it out loud, people; it’s three syllables. Every other letter’s a vowel. This shouldn’t be hard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistently-misspelled-non-complex-words/638083.md?page=9)