# How well do you spell?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 27, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169 "2002-10-27T23:38:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/1 "2002-10-27T23:38:54Z")
Apparently I sux…er suc…er suk…
I missed 8. And you?
[http://www.sentex.net/~mmcadams/spelling.html](http://www.sentex.net/~mmcadams/spelling.html)
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### Author:  [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2002, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/2 "2002-10-27T23:48:58Z")
I missed 14, and I’m generally an excelent speller. Damn.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/3 "2002-10-27T23:58:51Z")
missed 3, one of which is embarrassment, which is a word I know I don’t know how to spell, so I’m okay with that.
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### Author:  [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/4 "2002-10-28T00:01:12Z")
Well, according to that bastion of knowledge [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), if either of you “misspelled” minuscule as “miniscule”, you were actually [correct](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=miniscule).
The others I got wrong:
desiccate
indispensable
privilege
embarrassment
cemetery
consensus
minuscule
millennium
inoculate
sacrilegious
insistent
supersede
all right
I was under the impression that the “all right/alright” thing depended on the use.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/5 "2002-10-28T00:03:55Z")
missed 3, one of which is embarrassment, which is a word I know I don’t know how to spell, so I’m okay with that.
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### Author:  [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/6 "2002-10-28T00:05:08Z")
I missed 19. I should practise my spellin moore.
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### Author:  [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/7 "2002-10-28T00:09:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by iampunha \*
> \*\*Well, according to that bastion of knowledge [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), if either of you “misspelled” minuscule as “miniscule”, you were actually [correct](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=miniscule).
> \*\*
FWIW…she says that
> [@](#):
>
> - “Variants” listed in your dictionary are not correct – they are variants. That means people use them – they are not preferred by educated editors. Ain’t is also in your dictionary – that does NOT mean it’s correct.
Damn spelling Nazis 😉
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### Author:  [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/8 "2002-10-28T00:10:00Z")
You know, I can almost _feel_ the presence of Gaudere’s Law hanging over this thread.
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/9 "2002-10-28T00:11:21Z")
Missed four. I suspect a number of lucky guesses were involved in that score, as I was only certain of perhaps half of the answers.
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### Author:  [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/10 "2002-10-28T00:15:29Z")
Wow, I did BADLY, missed 15! I’m usually pretty good at spelling (though, not typing).
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/11 "2002-10-28T00:31:02Z")
Let’s just say, that considering there’s 50, I would have had better luck with my eyes closed and guessed at the answers. I missed almost half of them
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### Author:  [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/12 "2002-10-28T01:01:46Z")
I missed 4.
desiccate
minuscule
inoculate
anoint
I’ve always been a good speller, but I thought I’d do worse. I mean, jeez, all the words whose spelling I’ve ever been uncertain about were on that test.
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/13 "2002-10-28T01:45:30Z")
Take the average ‘good speller’.
Take the 5 or less percent of words that he/she spells wrongly.
I bet most or all of the words from that website are on that list.
That’s my defence.
The people who got like 4 missed words must be _very_ good spellers.
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### Author:  [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/14 "2002-10-28T01:53:22Z")
I am a lousy speller. I hardly needed a test to confirm it. In any event, it is confirmed. This is why I pay a secretary big bucks.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/15 "2002-10-28T02:12:32Z")
eYe spail tErryball
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/16 "2002-10-28T02:16:27Z")
missed 21. Leader so far?
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/17 "2002-10-28T02:29:29Z")
Youch, and I’m the one my co-workers all ask when they need to spell a word.
11 wrong:
```
* desiccate
* liquefy
* ecstasy
* minuscule
* judgment
* inoculate
* sacrilegious
* insistent
* supersede
* irresistible
* harass
```
The sad part is, other than the last three, I was really confident about how I’d spelled the others.
---
### Author:  [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/18 "2002-10-28T02:31:47Z")
I accidentally skipped 5 and I missed 22.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/19 "2002-10-28T02:45:14Z")
“Minuscule”…feh! Miss High-and-Mighty Copy Editor Mindy is cordially invited to bugger off. I will use any variant spelling that suits my sense of aesthetics.
Given that, I didn’t miss any words. I have a peculiar knack for spelling, and I’ve suffered from obsolescence anxiety ever since spellcheckers were introduced. 😉
I sense Gaudere looming over me…
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### Author:  [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2002, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/20 "2002-10-28T02:59:52Z")
I missed 5 words:
- indispensable
- inoculate
- sacrilegious
- supersede
- harass
Not so bad (except “harass”…I always mess those kinds of words up…too many R’s or not enough S’s), but definitely some lucky guesses in there.
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