# How well do you spell? **URL:** \ **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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/41 "2002-10-29T02:35:28Z")
I mist ate. And _miniscule_ is an aboman–abommina–abominash–a very bad thing. The word is _minuscule_, from French _minuscule_, from Latin _minuscula_. A mini scule is a small building where they teach bad spelling. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/42 "2002-10-29T02:39:30Z")
I missed 4: indispensable battalion inoculate harass “Harass” I mix up with “embarrass”–one has two r’s, one only one. “Inoculate” looks terribly wrong, but I guess I’ll take their word for it, since I’m too lazy to go check Webster’s (yes, even [www.webster.com](http://www.webster.com)). And “minuscule” I’d been misspelling for years, and finally learned just a few weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/43 "2002-10-29T03:17:45Z")
Somehow skipped over one and missed 12 - which really doesn’t surprise me; I do think I’m an average speller. Which is why I have spell check on my email both at home and at work set to automatically run whenever I send something, and it does rather often find things to correct. ---
**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/44 "2002-10-29T03:26:40Z")
Missed 14 desiccate indispensable privilege embarrassment liquefy liaison memento inadvertent minuscule judgment inoculate coolly supersede separate I get the feeling some of those are wrong. If not, then a big fat “Me fail English? That’s unpossible!” for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Damage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@Mister\_Damage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Damage)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/45 "2002-10-29T04:50:22Z")
Woohoo! I only missed one: [ul] [li]supersede[/li][/ul] …can I act smug now? Of course, I also think this test is perhaps a little tougher because they show both spellings already typed out (as opposed to typing/writing the words ourselves). When you’re at all unsure of how to spell a word, seeing a second, plausible spelling makes you second-guess yourself. I think it would be interesting to repeat the test by having someone else say the word out loud, and then type the word, and see how much your score changes (if any). Of course, this probably wouldn’t work nearly as well as a web site, although it could be done using realplayer/mp3/whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/46 "2002-10-29T08:47:27Z")
I missed only one: desiccate To me, that spelling just looks wrong for some reason. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/47 "2002-10-29T13:51:03Z")
How do _I_ spell? Bwa-hahahahahaha! I spit on your test. -Rue. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/48 "2002-10-29T13:56:36Z")
Dammit. I spell swell. But I missed ten. desiccate privilege inadvertent minuscule judgment inoculate drunkenness sacrilegious supersede harass Frikkinfrackinfruckinframmalammadingdong! ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/49 "2002-10-29T20:12:53Z")
Missed fore … er, four: desiccate indispensable battalion inoculate And I agree that her attitude toward “variants” – not to mention standard British spellings – is ridiculous. Some words DO have multiple correct spellings. There’s nothing wrong with this. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/50 "2002-10-29T23:29:42Z")
Convinced that I’m perfect (or at least in the ballpark), I was shocked to find I’d missed so many and decided to consult the dictionary. liquify is a variation of liquefy: [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=liquify](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=liquify) miniscule is a variation of minuscule: [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=miniscule](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=miniscule) judgement works too: [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=judgement](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=judgement) I can’t believe I spelled cemetery wrong though! :smack: Btw, cooly is a word. It’s just not the same thing is coolly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/51 "2002-10-29T23:43:04Z")
…and what’s with the attitude toward variations? Just b/c they vary slightly from the original spelling doesn’t mean they’re incorrect. They’re perfectly fine and perfectly acceptable… for example, judgement. It’s right, damn it. On the other hand, there’s cemetary. It’s not a variation, it’s just plain wrong. D’oh! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/52 "2002-10-29T23:57:27Z")
Wow… I missed 10! Weird - I’m generally pretty good. Eh, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169/53 "2002-10-29T23:58:43Z")
I missed 15! Holy handgrenades! I thought I was a good speller. What’s up with a double ‘c’ in ‘desiccate’? Who would’ve thunk it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-do-you-spell/134169.md?page=2)