# How hard can it be to spell? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 16, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515 "2003-08-16T02:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/41 "2003-08-17T12:30:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lockz \* > **Fuck, people! You call yourselves journalists yet you can’t even fucking spell the name of a city that’s a fucking capital of a country!** Some of us journalists, (okay, I’m not a journalist, but I start my degree in journalism next month) know the wonders of ‘Spell Check’ ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/42 "2003-08-17T13:19:14Z")
I’m still recovering from a BBC radio report about eight years ago. "Voters in the mainly French-speaking province of Kew-beck go to the polls today…: ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/43 "2003-08-17T13:56:35Z")
Pssst, **jjimm** , it is _soi-disant_ (single ‘s’ in ‘disant’). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/44 "2003-08-17T14:19:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tusculan \* > \*\*Pssst, **jjimm** , it is _soi-disant_ (single ‘s’ in ‘disant’). 😉 \*\* Maybe he figures if he spells it with two S’s he’ll get his just desserts? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/45 "2003-08-17T15:18:16Z")
**Kallessa** : you bring brownies and I won’t CARE how you spell anything! [slight hijack sort of] So matt\_mcl to avoid future embarrassment how would I pronouce Quebec with this Western American accent of mine? I hear Cue bek and Kwee bek out here I usually say keh bek. [/end hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/46 "2003-08-17T15:29:34Z")
Geeze, the British mispronounce _everything_. They mangle the word “elevator” so badly they make it sound something like “lift”. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/47 "2003-08-17T15:39:18Z")
But they clearly do say _Ottawa_ on the BBC map. Apparently they found their mistake and corrected it. Isn’t that what you’d want a journalist to be? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/48 "2003-08-17T15:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\*Maybe he figures if he spells it with two S’s he’ll get his just desserts? 🙂 \*\* I think I’ll stick with my just deserts. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/49 "2003-08-17T16:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysto \* > \*\*Don’t worry **Ex-PFC Wintergreen** , I got it. Although maybe that’s just because I’ve never met anyone who actually thought that the Toronto is Canada’s capital. \*\* I guess you’ve never been to Toronto then, eh, **Rysto**? (I kid, I kid.) ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/50 "2003-08-17T17:43:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*Capital city. A capitol is a building, or occasionally a group of buildings. \*\* You spotted the difficulty with my method–homophones are a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/51 "2003-08-18T07:16:31Z")
[Online Spell Checker](http://www.spellcheck.net/) It’s helped me out many times. ---
**Author:** ![benthames](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@benthames](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benthames)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/52 "2003-08-18T07:56:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ex-PFC Wintergreen \* > \*\*Christ. This is why I don’t post much. > > I hate to disappoint everyone, but I was joking. Hasn’t anyone seen “Canadian Bacon”? > > [The Mountie explains that Honey has been taken to the capital.] > Boomer: The capital Toronto. > Mountie: No, the capital of Canada is Ottawa. > Boomer: Yeah, right. Do we look that stupid? Ottawa! > Roy Boy: Nice try, Dudley. \*\* That’s a pretty prolix post, **Ex-PFC Wintergreen**. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/53 "2003-08-18T15:48:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\*I guess you’ve never been to Toronto then, eh, **Rysto**? > > (I kid, I kid.) \*\* Or as I said earlier you’ve never been to Utah:D ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515/54 "2003-08-19T01:20:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krisfer the Cat \* > \*\ ***Kallessa** : you bring brownies and I won’t CARE how you spell anything! > > [slight hijack sort of] > So matt\_mcl to avoid future embarrassment how would I pronouce Quebec with this Western American accent of mine? I hear Cue bek and Kwee bek out here I usually say keh bek. > [/end hijack] \*\* It’s not cue, and it’s not kwee. It’s kuh, or at most kwuh. (The way you pronounce it ought to be fine.) And while we’re at it… munt-real, not mawnt; sasKATchewun, not sasKATchewawn; and newfinLAND, not newFOUNDland (gah!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-can-it-be-to-spell/195515.md?page=2)