# spelling pet peeves **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 1999, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854 "1999-09-01T15:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@eden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/1 "1999-09-01T15:39:00Z")
in the mystery triangles thread, i noticed carl spelled millennium correctly, and was amazed to be among such good spellers. if i see it again with one “n” i will scream. also, i hate seeing things like “taco’s” advertised in restaurants. what spelling/grammar errors peeve you most? ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/2 "1999-09-01T15:49:00Z")
“The” written as “teh”. And it’s not a typo, either. This guy in IRC writes it like this constantly and it’s driving me up the wall. Also, people who write “their”, when it should be either “they’re” or “there”. How about its or it’s? Sheesh! 😉 * * * I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest. Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1824-1895) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/3 "1999-09-01T16:03:00Z")
I couldn’t read the “Your Welcome” thread in General Questions without cringing. Even after some people correctly wrote ‘you’re welcome’, others continued to make the mistake. If I’m unsure of how to spell a word, I always write (sp?) after it, so people know I’m not an idiot, just lazy. ---
**Author:** ![omniscientnot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a5b964/32.png) [@omniscientnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omniscientnot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/4 "1999-09-01T16:13:00Z")
eden: lower-case letters where there should be upper-cases (start of sentences, personal pronouns, for example) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EnigmaOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EnigmaOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnigmaOne)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/5 "1999-09-01T16:28:00Z")
LOL! Earlier today I incorrectly spelled the name of my hometown, Albuquerque, as Alberquerque, in an online exchange. DUH! It looked so right to me that I checked my birth certificate, just to be sure. I had to look twice to actually see the correct spelling. Double-DUH! After a bit of a snooze, I’m better now. 😃 * * * – **Kalél** _Common ¢ for all ages…_ “Well, there was that thing with the Cheese-Wiz…but I’m feeling _much_ better now!” – John Astin, _Night Court_ ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/6 "1999-09-01T16:33:00Z")
“Jhon.” It’s only the most common name in the English-speaking world! How could you not know how to spell it? ---
**Author:** ![topolino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/91b2a8/32.png) [@topolino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/topolino)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/7 "1999-09-01T16:38:00Z")
A guy I worked with previously always wrote “comming” instead of “coming.” That bothered me alittle. I’ve also accidently typed Louisville as Lousiville but I thought it kinda fit ;). ---
**Author:** ![eden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@eden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/8 "1999-09-01T16:44:00Z")
i have to spell my name a lot…and i get: edith (cringe), edna, edie, evie, eva, eve, erin…urgh. even if you’re not religious, as a denizen of western culture, shouldn’t everyone read the bible? how could one understand literature? i’m sorry about no caps. i have no excuse besides force of habit. oh, and sloth. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/9 "1999-09-01T18:25:00Z")
Don’t know if this counts as a “spelling” error, but what about when you see plural words as The Best Burger’s. I see that on a local restaurant sign and it drives me crazy! ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/10 "1999-09-01T22:35:00Z")
I agree, Hubzilla. People seem compelled to put apostrophes in plural nouns, and in third-person verb forms like “sing’s.” (“Although verbs could not possibly own anything,” said one of my high-school English textbooks.) ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/11 "1999-09-02T04:32:00Z")
Nobody seems to know how to use apostrophes nowadays. When people put “s” after numbers, they ALWAYS put an apostrophe, even when it’s not possessive! Like, “I’ll give you a 20 for four 5’s” or something. Also, 3 years ago, there was the huge thing for “Election '96” and not once did I see an apostrophe before the “96.” So it’s 96 AD now? Not even the US government can punctuate! _sigh_ All this typing has made me hungry for a potatoe! ---
**Author:** ![timmar68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/12 "1999-09-02T04:32:00Z")
A girl I work with writes “partial” as “partical”. It’s a joke at work now. We’ll talk to each other and say stuff like, “At noon, I’m doing a partical perm”. “Tomorrow i have a partical foil.” (Well, it’s funny to US!) * * * MaryAnn Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck! ---
**Author:** ![realm505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@realm505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/realm505)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/13 "1999-09-03T05:40:00Z")
i kan"t speel veri goed ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/14 "1999-09-02T20:24:00Z")
Fluorine (and related words, such as fluorescent) have nothing to do with ground cereal grains and should not be spelled as if they did. Leaving out the U entirely is slightly less offensive. Dave Barry made a comment about apostrophes to the effect that their principal use was in hand-lettered signs to alert the reader that an “s” was coming up at the end of a word. ---
**Author:** ![micro\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@micro\_user](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micro_user)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/15 "1999-09-03T00:47:00Z")
Apostrophes can show up in the damndest places — or sometimes they’re missing when they should be there. In a recent local newspaper new car dealer ad the headline was touting the success of the dealership… “We we’re number one in the metro area!” One of the finest public golf courses in the area had this sign on the 4th tee (to encourage speedy play)… “From your start you should of taken less than 45 minutes to reach this tee.” This sign was a large sign done in expensively carved (routed) stained pine. I can just imagine the oblivious woodworker standing back and admiring his pride and joy when he finished the painstaking work. I’ve noticed the “should of”, “could of” variations from time to time in newspaper headlines and magazines as well. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/16 "1999-09-03T01:04:00Z")
There’s a sign here in Flint, a small one, that someone put up to advertise some land for sale. It says “4 acres, with Right Away.” The apostrophe problem, coupled with they’re/there/their problem, are two of the greates challenges facing (most of) us as we enter the new millennium. There oughta \ be a study… ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/17 "1999-09-03T02:29:00Z")
bothers me when people spell under was as underway ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/18 "1999-09-03T02:29:00Z")
bothers me when people spell under way as underway ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/19 "1999-09-03T02:49:00Z")
It really irks me when people spell common foreign terms in a completely corrupted manner, like they’re really English terms. Such as: Pur say, she-she, boo-coo, and about a dozen others I can’t think of now. I know someone who does this to me all the time in e-mails and it drives me nuts! It tells me all their vocabulary comes from “listening” and never reading anything. PS – I do the (sp?) thing constantly! ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854/20 "1999-09-03T12:38:00Z")
Here’s another lovely one. I’m currently translating an emergency document and here’s one sentence: “This is the **que** for all associates with current certification in First Aid/CPR to respond to the location mentioned.” It’s supposed to be CUE. Sigh. Some days it doesn’t pay to get out of bed. * * * I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest. Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1824-1895) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-pet-peeves/7854.md?page=2)