Depends on what you are trying to say.
Populace - the common people
Populous - thickly inhabited
Gaudere’s Rule, as proposed by 2sense and defined by John Corrado: Any post made to point out a spelling or grammar error will invariably contain a spelling or grammar error. It has my name because I, after having noted that I made a spelling error in a post nitpicking someone’s word usage, said something like, “this always happens, there oughta be a name for that sort of thing.”
‘none’ takes a singular verb. It’s derived from ‘not one’.
How many of those are yours?
None is mine.
You couldn’t care less. If you say “I could care less” to indicate derision, listen to what you just said. You COULD care less. If you really honestly couldn’t care less about something, then you COULDN’T care less.
It’s ‘ask’, not ‘axe’. Don’t axe me a question; I’ll axe you in the head. (Ok, that’s just a peeve about pronunciation, not spelling.)
Pronunciation, NOT pronounciation. (Yes, pronouncedly.)
Occasion, not occassion.
Hell, just take everything from http://www.actwin.com/rwmack/spelling.htm or I’ll have to resort to clubbing baby seals again.
I couldn’t agree more with all of these.
But the question I have is, how or why does a misspelling like “definately” become so common? It seems to have popped up in the last six months or so, all over the internet. And it annoys the hell out of me, so if it had been common before then I’m sure I would have seen it.
I’ll take “Questions that answer themselves” for $100, tourbot:)
WAG 1: someone had a big fight over the spelling and the incorrect person won.
WAG 2: people don’t care as much about spelling as we used to.
Okay. This used to be one of my peeves as well, until I realized there “was” such a thing as sarcasm, and tho’ some don’t intend this phrase that way or understand it, it is understandable to say.
I “could” care less.
As in:
I could care less, but I don’t wanna put up the effort, because I don’t care enough about it to begin with.
Anyway, just my $0.04. 
Today I discovered that there is a company here in Ireland called Educater Resources Ltd.
Amazingly they don’t seem to have gone out of business yet.
I just realized something awhile ago - I consider myself an excellent speller, but if most of the people around me are spelling poorly in the same way, do they consider me the bad speller? I could lie awake nights thinking about this 
Oh my gosh, ur right!
Now I’m gonna be awake at night’s, thinking about this…
Disclaimer: the grammatical and spelling errors in this post WERE in fact intentional. Thank you.
[hand on Webster’s Universal Dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus]
On my honor and education, I, Dichotomous, shall try
To do my best for Cecil and the StraightDope,
To uphold the sacred rules of both spelling and grammar,
and to live by the Grammar Police Code.
Thus, having been duly sworn on this, the 30th day of January, 2001, Dichotomous joins the ranks of those heroic GP officers who have so bravely gone before…
I must admit, I have always had a problem with absolutely. I always want to put a “U” before and after the “L”.
Here’s a frequent SDMB faux pas:
The word is atheist, not athiest.
Need a mnemonic? Just break the word down:
a-the-ist
a- = no or none
the- = having to do with gods or deities
-ist = one who follows a certain belief (or in this case, lack thereof)
I urge those who consider themselves atheist to learn how to spell it, if they don’t know already!
Can’t believe I just wrote a post with an “indefinately,” seconds before seeing this thread title
Their and they’re…two of my favorite pet peeves. Get a clue.
Their dog killed my cat.
They’re gonna pay the vet bill.
I see this all the time. I am so sick of being my friends’ grammar teacher.
Silky “Where the hell WERE you in 5th grade?” Threat
Let’s not forget supposably.
Crunchy “SilkyThreat’s gonna get so tired of doing this after 100 posts!” Frog
If they don’t pay the vet bill, I’m going over there and kick some rear. Can you say amen, brother (or sister, or whatever)!
Thanks for clearing up the Gauderes’ Rule thing.
I hate when I don’t know something the whole populous supposably knows. It definately effect’s my self-esteem. I dont like reading Post’s where their grammer and spelling is’nt correct.
I blame the script kiddies. It’s all their fault that almost no one on the internet can spell or use correct grammar. Myself included.
You read in enough posts/newsgroups/zines/chats that say, “I am leet and I will roxor joo” and the like and it just gets stuck in the brain cells. ((Hacker-speak removed on purpose.))
Of course, I also blame them for about 88% of the problems I have with the 'net. Oh well. 
Thanks Gaudere,
I had completely fergitted that you were a mod and I was wracking my grey goo trying to figure out who the french guy was who postulated this rule.
Ahh, I of course mean guy or WOMAN; gender makes no difference to me.
Ooo, almost violated a HUGE rule.
No offence to anyone.(Or is it offense?)
Ptoo, the hell with it.
CEASAR salad. Or worse, CEASER.
Use of “myself” or “yourself” in a place where “me” or “you” is the correct form. I mean, “I would have done it myself” is fine. But saying “You can meet with John and myself” - what ever happened to the word “me” for cryin’ out loud?
My brother once asked me (he’s famous for questions of this nature) who my targets would be if I were (subjunctive, please!) a serial killer. I said people who misuse apostrophes. He looked at me and said, in something like awe, “That would make your pattern really hard to trace!” Well, yes, it would. But I have seen BILLBOARDS that said “Condo’s for sale!” Don’t these people have proofreaders?
My in-laws say “Yous guys.” I cringe every time I hear it. They’re coming to stay with us for six weeks. Help!
Thank you.
Julie
It’s one thing for regular people to make mistakes when posting or in converstation (and it definitely bugs the crap out of me)…but it is a totally different thing when there’s a mistake in an ad or a billboard or something like that. I heartily agreee with jadailey…don’t these people have proofreaders? You’re a business for cryin’ out loud! And what about the people who do this stuff for them? (run ads, make signs, banners, etc.) Don’t they know whatever it is they’re making for this business has an error? Doesn’t it reflect poorly on them as well? Or does no one care?