# Most annoying misspellings **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123 "2010-03-03T14:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/121 "2010-03-06T22:30:26Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Please tell me what I’m missing here. It should be “Now THAT’S a deal!” not “NOW that’s a deal!” Joe ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/122 "2010-03-07T00:57:36Z")
I hate when mischievous is misspelled and mispronounced. There is no I after the v- never has been. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/839c29/32.png) [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Man_A_Plan_A_Canal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/123 "2010-03-07T11:44:38Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > its/it’s. The latter means “it is” or “it was.” Otherwise, use the former. > > This misspelling has crossed over into “yours/your’s” High school English teacher here. I’ve never seen “it’s” used to mean “it was.” Perhaps you mean “it has”? I don’t think “your’s” for “yours” is a misspelling–I would call that a confusion about the use of apostrophes. Nouns need apostrophes to indicate possession, but pronouns do not. I’m just saying. AMAPAC ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/124 "2010-03-07T15:30:59Z")
“In otherwords…” is incorrect. \*\*Otherwords \*\*is not a word. “In other words…” is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/125 "2010-03-07T15:33:39Z")
Am surprised no one has mentioned \*\*\*affect \*\*\*and _ **effect** _. I occasionally use the wrong one. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/126 "2010-03-07T15:38:11Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief Yep, it quite common to use the wrong one: \*\*Lighting \*\*- Something that give off light \*\*Lightening \*\*- Making something lighter \*\*Lightning \*\*- Those electric arcs in the sky ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/127 "2010-03-07T17:17:14Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > It should be “Now THAT’S a deal!” not “NOW that’s a deal!” > > Joe Unless they didn’t cover that in my spelling classes, that’s an issue of capitalization and/or emphasis marking (whatever that may be called) more than spelling. The meaning of the sentence changes without regard to spelling, in my way of reading it. Would you SCORE this as a spelling error? as compared with Would YOU score this as a spelling error? or against Would you score this as a SPELLING error? ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/128 "2010-03-07T20:29:15Z")
I just saw an internet comment about “looking into a Cristobol” to predict the future. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/129 "2010-03-07T20:53:03Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Am surprised no one has mentioned \*\*\*affect \*\*\*and _ **effect** _. I occasionally use the wrong one. I give people other than myself a pass on those. Both words can be rather nouns or verbs, and various senses snake around one another. Take this sentence _If I **effect** a change in my patient’s medication, the **effect** will be to help her gain more varied emotional **affect** , and that will **affect** her marriage for the better._ That’s confusing even though I know exactly what all the words mean in the various senses, and none of them are misused or misspelled. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/130 "2010-03-08T18:09:58Z")
Tounge… I’ve never been clear on how it can be spelled this way and still pronounced correctly. Maybe it’s not. Maybe they’ve never said the word. It’s right up there with rogue/rouge on the irritating-meter. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/131 "2010-03-08T18:36:14Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I just saw an internet comment about “looking into a Cristobol” to predict the future. 🙂 Until I actually read the track listings for the _Under the Iron Sea_ album by Keane, I thought the song went “Oh, Cristobal” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/132 "2010-03-08T18:45:12Z")
> [@ragerdude](#): > > I pronounce “could’ve” and “could of” identically. What dialects pronounce them distinctly? None that I’m aware of. Phonetically,the only difference is how much time the speaker allows between the voiced velar plosive (better known as the “d” sound) and the schwa+voiced labio-dental fricative, and I should think that would vary not merely among different persons but among different instances of a given person saying the phrases. On another matter, I wonder if the persons who mis-spell _crystal ball_ are, for some reason, thinking of the Spanish translation of _Chrisopher_. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/133 "2010-03-08T18:47:48Z")
I’m not the worlds best speller and I’ve made some of the mistakes listed in this thread, but not the basic easy ones. I stop and make the mental effort to spell separate and congratulations correctly. Some I’ve seen that drive me nuts: “I put the papers back in the draw” and “I’m board”. He should be hit with one. **Skald** said “Labio” _giggle giggle_ ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123/134 "2010-03-08T19:16:30Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > None that I’m aware of. Phonetically,the only difference is how much time the speaker allows between the voiced velar plosive (better known as the “d” sound) and the schwa+voiced labio-dental fricative, and I should think that would vary not merely among different persons but among different instances of a given person saying the phrases. Perhaps you’re not aware of British English, then? We often (especially in stressed positions) pronounce “of” not with a schwa, but with what is apparently called the open back rounded “o” sound, as in “hot” or “rock”. It’s really quite easy to tell the difference in a lot of British accents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-misspellings/531123.md?page=6)