# Spelling Queues and Principals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2022, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632 "2022-01-12T10:26:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/1 "2022-01-12T10:26:12Z")
I thought I’d share this one day in a thread. But hey, maybe the information deserves a thread of its own. Why not? I took a computer class about thirty years ago. And for the first time I was exposed to a queue. In case you don’t know, that is basically what we call a line in the good ole USA. But in the UK, Canada, and I am sure just about every place else, it is called a queue. In any event that is not important. It is how you remember how to spell the word. Looks complicated, I know. But actually, it is just ‘Q’. Then two ‘U-Es’ in a row. That’s it. Yeah, I finally had to drop out of the computer courses. The first couple were rudimentary. But it got more and more complicated, as the courses progressed. That’s not relevant to this thread. But I thought I would just let you know how that ended. (Believe it or not, I do apparently hold an Associates’ Degree from community college. But that isn’t relevant either 🙂 .) This next one another poster here on SDMB told me long ago, when I misspelled ‘principal’. I wonder if the poster is still here. Because it did make an impression on me. You see, morals make up principles. But the guy who manages the school is called the principal. Anyways, all you have to remember is that the principal is your ‘pal’. Get it? Anyone else have some easy way to remember how to spell some not-too-easy words 🙂 ? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/2 "2022-01-12T11:57:29Z")
Rein vs reign. A King reigns. Both those words have a g in them. The other one is the other one. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/3 "2022-01-12T12:00:47Z")
In the late 90s, as the end-times approached, a column in the Seattle free weekly had a helpful mnemonic for spelling _millennium_, and I’ve never forgotten it: _Two n’s and two l’s, You’ve spelled it quite well. One l or one n, You’re a big fat stupid hen._ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/4 "2022-01-12T13:32:14Z")
I only remembered how to spell Assisi (as in “St. Francis of…”) when I broke it up into “ass is I.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/5 "2022-01-12T18:20:14Z")
Not exactly spelling, but it helps me to remember the meaning: Stalagmites and stalactites are “Stalagmiten” and “Stalaktiten” in German. For the life of me I never could remember which was which, but then I came up with this: “Mieten” in German are rents, and “Titten”, you guessed it, tits. Rents go up, and tits are hanging, so now I never forget. Fun fact: such mnemonics are called “Eselsbrücken”, literally donkey bridges. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/6 "2022-01-12T18:43:03Z")
OK, so the principal (noun) is your pal, right? But you have to remember, she’s also the principal (adjective) staff member of the school. Thus: the principal idea in a book, etc. Not principle. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/7 "2022-01-12T18:45:59Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Stalagmites and stalactites Stala **c** tites stick _tight_ to the **c** eiling, of course, while stala **g** mites _might_ if they could (but instead they’re on the **g** round). ---
**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 12, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/8 "2022-01-12T18:46:13Z")
Arithmetic: A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream (learned that in second grade, IIRC). Separate has A RAT in it. (learned that probably in fourth grade.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/9 "2022-01-12T18:53:20Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > > Stalagmites and stalactites > > Stala **c** tites stick _tight_ to the **c** eiling, of course, while stala **g** mites _might_ if they could (but instead they’re on the **g** round). Why so complicated? It always was “stala_c_tite” had a “c” for “ceiling”; “stala_g_mite” had a “g” for “ground.” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/10 "2022-01-12T18:54:41Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > But actually, it is just ‘Q’. Then two ‘U-Es’ in a row. That’s not a trick, that’s just spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/11 "2022-01-12T19:03:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why so complicated? It always was “stala _c_ tite” had a “c” for “ceiling”; “stala _g_ mite” had a “g” for “ground.” But how do you tell “mite” from “tite” then? You could wind up with “stalacmite” and “stalagtite.” ---
**Author:** ![cytop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f17d59/32.png) [@cytop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cytop)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/12 "2022-01-12T19:06:22Z")
On the subject of stalagmites and stalactites, my donkey bridge was (and still is, when needed) is that the mites get up when the tites go down … ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/13 "2022-01-12T19:17:15Z")
When figuring out whether to use “to” or “too” I just say it in then sentence I’m going to use it in with an exaggerated “toooooo” sound. “That soup is tooooo hot.” Sounds okay so I use too. “I’m going tooooo the store.” Sounds wrong so I use to. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/14 "2022-01-12T19:30:45Z")
The building where the legislature meets is the capit **o** l – the ‘o’ is shaped like the dome on top. Or I guess you could imagine the o is the shape of the rotunda as seen from above. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/15 "2022-01-12T20:20:20Z")
If you’re talking about papER, it’s stationERy. If it’s stAying still, it’s statonAry. Not spelling, but it’s nauseous/poisonous, nauseated/poisoned. I could use help for disinterested and uninterested. It’s a nice distinction it would be sad to lose ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/16 "2022-01-12T20:33:36Z")
A couple of elemental ones- There is NO flour in fluorine! Who is the phos phor? US! (Phosphorus. The ninth graders never had a problem with the two ph’s, but they always wanted to add an extra u or o in there somewhere.) ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/17 "2022-01-12T20:34:48Z")
The stalagmite “mite” reach the ceiling if it grows tall enough! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/18 "2022-01-13T14:51:47Z")
Occasions: “No caissons go rolling along.” ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/19 "2022-01-13T15:16:24Z")
LICENSE - I used to have a hard time remembering if the C came first or the S. So I always say to myself - C comes before S in the alphabet. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-queues-and-principals/957632/20 "2022-01-13T22:43:28Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > Stala **c** tites stick _tight_ to the **c** eiling, of course, while stala **g** mites _might_ if they could (but instead they’re on the **g** round). I just remember: “hang tite”. _Spy_ magazine once ran a one-panel cartoon showing a cave with two groups of formations covered in women’s clothing, labeled, “Transvestites and transvestmites”.