# P-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 24, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639 "2004-07-24T03:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/21 "2004-07-24T16:49:13Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > But it’s easy to keep straight if you just remember the etymology. It’s from the Latin _separatus_, past participle of _separare_ — apart. If I could remember the etymology, I could just remember the proper spelling. 😃 Actually, though, that sep **a** rate and ap **a** rt link might help. I go through phases with ‘separate’. It just _looks right_ with an ‘e’. Also, ‘maintenance’, but that one hasn’t given me any trouble in a few years. I figure I spell things tolerably well. I hate when I make a big, long, overly-intellectuallized post and then see spelling mistakes in it, but mostly I get over it quickly and figure that the meaning is clear, and really that is all I hope to get across. Forgive us our tresspasses. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/22 "2004-07-24T16:53:44Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > so fucken sorry I didnt’ lead a privaledged life ok fucken a man you know what i mean what is the difference ooh your so smart you can fucken spell good for you heres a cookie Hee! You’s ees funnie! ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/23 "2004-07-24T16:59:56Z")
Now that I think about it, I think I’ve already been shown the separate/apart link. Fuck. :smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/24 "2004-07-24T17:06:05Z")
I read a book when I was about 10 that had a spelling bee as one of its chapters, and they gave the mnemonic device that ‘separate’ has ‘a rat’ in it. I can’t believe how well that one glued itself to my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/25 "2004-07-24T17:17:05Z")
> [@Tony Montana](#): > > Pedantic > > P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C > > pedantic That is the whole NAMBLA thing, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/26 "2004-07-24T17:59:32Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > Now that I think about it, I think I’ve already been shown the separate/apart link. Fuck. :smack: 😃 While i’m lucky enough that spelling has always been one of my strong points, i can certainly understand how people get “separate” wrong, especially given that the verb and adjectival forms are pronounced so differently: “I’m going to separate the wheat from the chaff.” “It’s a completely separate issue.” ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/27 "2004-07-24T18:08:36Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > That is the whole NAMBLA thing, isn’t it? um no. _That_ would be bi-pedal. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Montana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tony\_Montana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Montana)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/28 "2004-07-24T18:09:50Z")
Or penal. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/29 "2004-07-24T19:05:38Z")
Pedantic? Yes, that’s me. I’m a [pedant](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=1&q=pedant) and I’m proud of it. So as long as I’m here, let me hit on my other major pet peeve. The word which one might utter in order to stop the progress of a galloping horse? Whoa. W-H-O-A It is not “woah.” If it were “woah” it would rhyme with “Noah” (you know, the guy with the ark) and would then be a two-syllable word. Misspelling a common four letter word is a sign of such sloppiness that this is a red flag for me to disregard just about anything else in a person’s post. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/30 "2004-07-25T15:02:23Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > While i’m lucky enough that spelling has always been one of my strong points, i can certainly understand how people get “separate” wrong, especially given that the verb and adjectival forms are pronounced so differently: > > “I’m going to separate the wheat from the chaff.” > > “It’s a completely separate issue.” YES!! Exactly. This is why this one gives me so much trouble. I’m also a generally strong speller, and I was completely mortified to learn that separate and separate are spelled the same way! What I can’t understand is this: I know wound (past tense of wind) and wound (an injury) are pronounced differently, but I’ve never had any trouble with THAT spelling. For that matter - wind itself. You wind your watch when the wind blows. And read (present tense and past tense) - two different pronunciations, one spelling. So WHY does “separate” in particular seem so durn WRONG to me?? ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/31 "2004-07-25T15:12:19Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > I read a book when I was about 10 that had a spelling bee as one of its chapters, and they gave the mnemonic device that ‘separate’ has ‘a rat’ in it. I can’t believe how well that one glued itself to my brain. I read that too! And still remember it thirty-odd years later. Now I need a mnemonic device for ‘desperate.’ And ‘mnemonic.’ ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/32 "2004-07-25T15:34:01Z")
> [@Proudest Monkey](#): > > I read that too! And still remember it thirty-odd years later. Now I need a mnemonic device for ‘desperate.’ And ‘mnemonic.’ Desperate comes from the Latin _Desparatus_, “out of hope” – if you’ve taken any other Romance languages, think of their words for “hope” which all pretty much follow the form “esper”. If we take “esper” to mean hope and “Dis” to mean “without” then you’ve got a cute little anagram: _Desperate_ is / dis-_esper_-ate Because “esper” is much more phonetically intuitive than the word as a whole, remembering the root spelling eventually helps. …but how can you _not_ know how to spell mnemonic? Just think of the first “M” as someone "Umm"ing while trying to remember something: “How is that pronounced? Mmmm… Nemonic!” ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/33 "2004-07-25T16:22:08Z")
One keeps milk in the **refrigerator**. No “d” in there at all. Yes, many people say “fridge”. But that doesn’t mean you have to add the “d” when you want to write out the full word. It is not a “refridgerator”. Spelling…it really isn’t all that hard. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639/34 "2004-07-25T16:30:21Z")
OK, all you Air Force types. A hangEr is a thing you put your uniforms on. A hangAr is a large building for aircraft. Thank you for your attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e/256639.md?page=1)