# Mistakenly inferring the spelling of a phrase you've only heard. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465 "2014-01-10T20:21:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/21 "2014-01-11T02:36:23Z")
There are some words - of course, I can’t think of any right now - that I don’t even try to pronounce. No one says them, they only use them in writing, so no one knows how to pronounce them. They’re like “demesne”. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/22 "2014-01-11T03:28:20Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > […] Eggcorns don’t necessarily have to sound exactly the same as the original phrase though, just similar enough to arise from a mishearing. What, a bad haircut and they just pop into existence? Oh, wait. Gee, that was odd. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/23 "2014-01-11T03:33:49Z")
On a special interest board today, a woman (not a lawyer) giving legal advice said there were “proto calls” that needed to be followed when terminating someone’s employment. Yeah. I’ll take legal advice from her. You betcha. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/24 "2014-01-11T04:01:37Z")
Ooo. That’s something like a pre-Madonna. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/25 "2014-01-11T04:45:39Z")
Bono Fide. Not me, I saw it on a sign. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/26 "2014-01-11T04:46:04Z")
> [@j666](#): > > There are some words - of course, I can’t think of any right now - that I don’t even try to pronounce. > > **No one says them, they only use them in writing, so no one knows how to pronounce them.** They’re like “demesne”. Yeah – יהוה comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/27 "2014-01-11T07:22:14Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > While we’re at it, how would you pronounce “Dwyane”? Hmmmm … “Dane?” No, it’s probably somebody who tried and failed to spell “Dwayne.” …right? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/28 "2014-01-11T07:29:05Z")
Your cohort can be found in your milieu, but certainly not reliably. If you can’t find them there, try checking your ambit. Persons, of course, are on the premises. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/29 "2014-01-11T08:16:00Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Hmmmm … “Dane?” No, it’s probably somebody who tried and failed to spell “Dwayne.” …right? That’s my guess. I don’t think I have heard that one pronounced! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/30 "2014-01-11T08:23:39Z")
I’ll admit I was around forty before I found out how the name Nguyen was pronounced. (It basically sounds like “win”.) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/31 "2014-01-11T08:46:23Z")
This is a bit backwards, but … I was in my third semester at Columbia University. I’m dropping the name to give you an idea of the general student body–few people are in there without taking a bunch of AP courses and at the very least have four years of high school science. I was admitted and pulling my weight academics-wise, despite being a high school dropout. To survive, I busted my ass playing catch-up with all the basic subjects, taking out books and tutorials in advance of my classes in order to learn the basics of what I was missing. Chemistry class. Lecture hall. 300+ people. I forget what the question was, but my answer was: _cashon_. As in **ca** t po **tion** … **ca** t po **tion** … _ **cation** _. :smack: ---
**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:** [January 11, 2014, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/32 "2014-01-11T09:21:00Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Hmmmm … “Dane?” No, it’s probably somebody who tried and failed to spell “Dwayne.” …right? I say Dwy-ANN. Dwyane probably says Dwayne. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/33 "2014-01-11T09:31:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ll admit I was around forty before I found out how the name Nguyen was pronounced. (It basically sounds like “win”.) Ok, but what did you mistakenly infer? That Steve Wynn was Vietnamese? That some scenarios were Nguyen-Nguyen? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/34 "2014-01-11T13:20:16Z")
It was only a few years ago that I finally figured out that it isn’t “Knights in White Satin”… ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/35 "2014-01-11T14:13:49Z")
Way back in the olden days on AOL, I wrote “hear hear” in response to a post I agreed with. Another poster came in and called me an idiot because it should have been “here here” instead. I was embarrassed and had to admit that though I’d heard the phrase all my life, I couldn’t say with any certainty that I’d ever seen it written. Another poster eventually came along and disagreed with who the idiot was, but this could have gone either way. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/36 "2014-01-11T14:27:24Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Unless he meant “ofay!” hee hee hee. --No shit, it’s in the dictionary. It’s even a valid word in SpellTower. ---
**Author:** ![Courk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Courk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Courk)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/37 "2014-01-11T16:28:04Z")
I’m seven, doing a reading in church. Thankfully this was the practice, but still my entire class was there. I’m pretty sure I was doing a reading from the Book of Jacob, chapter Jacob, verse Jacob. I think I said the name about a dozen times in the course of a few sentences. Except I pronounced it “Juh-Cob” with a very hard “B” sound. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/38 "2014-01-11T18:11:00Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > Ok, but what did you mistakenly infer? That Steve Wynn was Vietnamese? That some scenarios were Nguyen-Nguyen? I’ll admit I wasn’t following the OP. This wasn’t a situation where I misspelled a word based on how I had heard it pronounced. But other people had already expanded on the topic and posted examples of mispronouncing words based on how they saw them spelled. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/39 "2014-01-11T18:50:55Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Way back in the olden days on AOL, I wrote “hear hear” in response to a post I agreed with. > > Another poster came in and called me an idiot because it should have been “here here” instead. > > I was embarrassed and had to admit that though I’d heard the phrase all my life, I couldn’t say with any certainty that I’d ever seen it written. > > Another poster eventually came along and disagreed with who the idiot was, but this could have gone either way. No, it can’t. “Hear, hear” is correct, and has always been correct for registering agreement. “Here, here” can only be appropriate if one knows the answer to the question a teacher is posing to the class, and wishes to attract the notice of the teacher, who is looking around for someone who can provide it. I used to struggle with AW-ree, DEB-ackle, and MY-zled (awry, debacle, misled). ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465/40 "2014-01-11T19:00:58Z")
When I was a kid I used to hear the name “Aloysius” and have absolutely _no_ idea how to spell it. Then I saw it spelled (with no context) and had no idea that was what it was. Interesting about “suped/souped up.” I always thought the “souped” people were doing it wrong, and the “suped” spelling was correct (as in, “made super”). Ignorance fought! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakenly-inferring-the-spelling-of-a-phrase-youve-only-heard/678465.md?page=3)