# People Can't Spell! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255 "2008-06-26T00:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/41 "2008-06-26T18:26:56Z")
I always get a kick out of these threads and the threads addressing malapropisms. In the latter category, a woman told me the other day that she thought our neighborhood was very clean and “christine”. Apparently, we’re about to be terrorized by a '58 Plymouth. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/42 "2008-06-26T18:57:41Z")
I worked with a gal who was a self professed psychic and hung with a circle of friends who were all self professed psychics and took themselves very seriously. She told me one of them was conversing with a dead guy who the media and authorities reported had killed himself, however she said he was murdered (cause she spoke to his ghost) and she was writing a book about it and was looking to get it published. She even had her own website promoting the book. “Conversations with Jeff” or something like that. I went to the website and there in large font was the tagline for the book (I’m not kidding about this): DONUT BELEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR! I laughed till I cried. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/43 "2008-06-26T19:00:35Z")
My old boss used to talk about ‘pacific’ things to do. I had no idea he was so West Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/44 "2008-06-26T19:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=lorene] I have plans to have brunch with my family this weekend but, when I went to the restaurants website, they had a section marked **menu’s**. Now I don’t think I can go there. [/QUOTE] Gaudere strikes again! ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/45 "2008-06-26T19:16:23Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] Gaudere strikes again! [/QUOTE] No no, my point was that they had put the apostrophe in and it bothered me. [This](http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/funny-graphs-grammatical-an.gif) pretty well sums up my existence. ETA: Oh, wait, maybe you meant my omission of an apostrophe. Now I do feel kinda dumb. Well, it’s just to make room for their extra one. :o ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/46 "2008-06-26T19:19:23Z")
I just can’t get over the fact that people will pay for a professionally-made sign, and both the maker and the buyer will allow a “typo!” Do they not see it? Do they get a discount? Do they think the public won’t care? It boggles the mind, it does. :: crossing fingers for no typos. 😉 :: ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/47 "2008-06-26T19:27:10Z")
In today’s Daily Express, in a story about positive discrimination, they have come out with this gem :- _New law will favour ethnics and women_ WTF is “ethnics”. You would expect a better standard of English from a national newspaper. Mind you, they have sacked all of their sub-editors, with the inevitable result that the paper ends up with words like that. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/48 "2008-06-26T20:19:20Z")
It’s _prescription!_ Not _perscription!_ I’ve seen this one in multiple places on these very boards. You people can do better than that, I know you can. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/49 "2008-06-26T20:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] WTF is “ethnics”. You would expect a better standard of English from a national newspaper. Mind you, they have sacked all of their sub-editors, with the inevitable result that the paper ends up with words like that. [/QUOTE] You’re missing a questionmark 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/50 "2008-06-26T20:35:44Z")
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but in my City’s main drag, there’s a psychic. Or, according to their own sign, a PSYCHICH. In the billing department where I work, there’s a young lady who has been here long enough to realize that when I say “fiscal year,” I’m not saying “physical year” – or not, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/51 "2008-06-26T20:41:15Z")
[QUOTE=whiterabbit] It’s _prescription!_ Not _perscription!_ I’ve seen this one in multiple places on these very boards. You people can do better than that, I know you can. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen confusion between “prescription” and “proscription”. And it might be happening more than I notice, 'cause most everyone I know pronounces it “pr **uh** scription”. Who knows which one they mean by that. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/52 "2008-06-26T21:34:23Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Get used to it, everybody. Now that there are spellcheckers, actually _knowing_ spelling is the stuff of pedants and freaks, and go-getting businesspeople want no part of it. [/QUOTE] The trouble with that is that both of the errors the OP cited would have been caught by a spellchecker. > [@Colophon](#): > > I think it must be down to people not reading as much as they used to. I think it’s due to reading all the misspellings on the Internet. I’ve gotten less sure of my spelling, even though I was always a very good speller, and I think that’s the cause. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/53 "2008-06-26T21:36:20Z")
[QUOTE=lorene] Yes! I am so, so sick of people who want to _loose weight_. . . [/QUOTE] Weren’t there people loosing weight in one of last season’s Doctor Who episodes? The little lipid babies were kind of cute. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/54 "2008-06-27T00:21:43Z")
[QUOTE=emilyforce] Wow, **Sunrazor** , can I read your thesis when you’re done? Excellent cool. [/QUOTE] Well, it’s actually on grammar mentoring in working newsrooms. I hope to teach journalism one day, so my thesis – technically a “project” because its results will be suggestive, not definitive – is on whether ongoing mentoring of grammar in newsrooms improves a newspaper’s credibility. But there will be lots of good background on how grammar is taught and was taught in America. I hope it’ll be published and available on line. If so, I’ll post the link, you can betcha’! ---
**Author:** ![Pseudocode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/59ef9b/32.png) [@Pseudocode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pseudocode)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/55 "2008-06-27T01:59:13Z")
At least they used spell check on the caption for [this photo](http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=D2&Date=20080615&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=806150811&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=65). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/56 "2008-06-27T02:25:41Z")
[QUOTE=seosamh] I can see all the letters written to the UK Department for Transport. The number of times I see “driving _license_” instead of _licence_ - sometimes written by Members of Parliament. I bet not one of them is an American. It’s a disgrace. [/QUOTE] If they were American, it would have been “driver’s license.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/57 "2008-06-27T08:45:40Z")
Regarding “menu’s” and so on: I don’t know what it is about words ending in vowels, but even people that really should know better cannot resist adding apostrophes when forming the plurals. Pizza’s, Video’s, Menu’s - all of these and more seem to take the apostrophe more often than not, even in a whole list of other plurals with no apostrophes. What is it about vowels that cries out for an apostrophe? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/58 "2008-06-27T09:27:45Z")
I was an English teacher and I’m a _terrible_ speller. I double checked everything that was prepared for my classes, of course. But here I don’t take great pains. I am one of those who can never remember how to spell _prescriptions_. Maybe your post will help. One form of misspelling that catches my eye is for the plural of words that end in _t_ or _k_ to be missing the _s_: “4 and 7 lb. beef roast on sale” or “Halloween Mask for Sale – Two for the Price of One” ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/59 "2008-06-27T09:40:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Colophon** : > Regarding “menu’s” and so on: I don’t know what it is about words ending in vowels, but even people that really should know better cannot resist adding apostrophes when forming the plurals. > > Pizza’s, Video’s, Menu’s - all of these and more seem to take the apostrophe more often than not, even in a whole list of other plurals with no apostrophes. > What is it about vowels that cries out for an apostrophe? Hey, you’re right. It must be because people think that the word will look funny otherwise, as if the pronunciation should change – if you had never heard of pizza and you saw the word “pizzas” wouldn’t you pronounce it “PIZ-ass”? “Videos” looks like … hmm … “VID-ee-OS”? And “menus” rhymes with “penis.” ---
**Author:** ![Uglystick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/87869e/32.png) [@Uglystick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uglystick)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255/60 "2008-06-27T13:51:23Z")
I know of a neighborhood where the sign at the main entrance, while spelled correctly on one side, says, “SURBUBAN HOMES” on the other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-cant-spell/454255.md?page=4)