# Stupidly simple things you always have trouble with **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856 "2007-08-25T01:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![rucciface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rucciface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rucciface)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/61 "2007-08-26T19:01:46Z")
I don’t know if it’s “business” or “buisness”. I could probably look it up again, but I’ve already done that about 175 times in my life. And frankly, I just don’t care anymore. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/62 "2007-08-26T20:12:53Z")
[QUOTE=Fetchund] I just learned a tip for this 2 months ago… and I am 44 years old. you are not alone! There, their and they’re ALL start with The! [/QUOTE] That should help…I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/63 "2007-08-26T23:13:25Z")
Mental subtraction is the bane of my existence. You know those mental exercises where you start at one number and have to repeatedly subract 7? They render me brain dead. I am horrendous with directions. I can easily get lost in my own town, taking a route for the 300th time. I once got lost in my own college dormitory–after living there for two years. There are certain words I can never remember how to spell correctly. Disappear is one of them (holy crap, that might actually be right!) Exercise is another. Excersize? Exercize? I am generally a pretty good speller. There is no reason I should remember how to spell bureaucracy and not lisence. Liscense. Damn it. License. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/64 "2007-08-26T23:50:03Z")
[QUOTE=rucciface] I don’t know if it’s “business” or “buisness”. I could probably look it up again, but I’ve already done that about 175 times in my life. And frankly, I just don’t care anymore. [/QUOTE] Think “busyness” with an “i.” ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/65 "2007-08-27T06:32:34Z")
[QUOTE=Layla01] I can’t do the 24 hour clock thing - as in convert times from the 12 hour clock to 24 hours. Lucky I’m not in the army. [/QUOTE] Here too. Lucky my boss was smart enough to attach a cheat sheet to our sign in/out sheet., but I ALWAYS have to look. [QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] There is no reason I should remember how to spell bureaucracy and not lisence. Liscense. Damn it. License. [/QUOTE] There is no word in the English language I hate spelling more than that one. I’ve tried EVERYTHING. I’ve tried giving myself spelling tests, I even have a text document where I have the CORRECT spelling to everything I can’t spell. Why? Because it’s quicker opening it up and C&P than trying and trying until I get the right one. Also on my “Can’t Spell” List…guarantee and restaurants. :smack: **Mini-Rant:** Look at the retarded fucking suggestions FireFox spell checker gives for “lisence.” The number one suggestion for “lisence” is “Melicent” for fuck’s sake…not one of them even STARTS with a fucking “L”. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/66 "2007-08-27T10:26:24Z")
Am I the only one that’s puzzled that anybody could even think of spelling “their” as “thier”? How could “ie” possibly make the right sound? “Thier” would be pronounced something like th-eye-er. And the “greater than/less than” thing just seems really odd too. I mean, you have a symbol with a big end and a little end; is it not obvious that the big end goes next to the big number? However, I will stop pointing out how dumb you all are now, as I was just about to post this and noticed that I had for some reason spelt “symbol” as “simble” in the previous sentence. WTF is that all about? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/67 "2007-08-27T13:27:17Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Am I the only one that’s puzzled that anybody could even think of spelling “their” as “thier”? How could “ie” possibly make the right sound? “Thier” would be pronounced something like th-eye-er. [/QUOTE] You sir, are an idiot. If only this were, the Pit, and then I could tell you what I think about a person who doesn’t know know that “thier” would be pronounced “thee-er”! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/68 "2007-08-27T13:36:46Z")
[QUOTE=missbunny] Like Lady Venom, I can NEVER remember which is the greater-than sign and which is the less-than. Is it 10\>5 (ten is greater than five) or 10\<5 ?? I think it’s the former but the point is, I have to think about it carefully to decide. [/QUOTE] The alligator always eats the bigger number. So it’s the first one. Edit: Damnit, you all made that point already! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/69 "2007-08-27T14:21:06Z")
Greater than/less than signs have always stuck in my head after my sixth grade math teacher screamed during class, roared, beat his chest, climbed up on the desk and said, “I am King Kong! I point to you puny humans! Big points to little! Big points to little!” Things like that stick. 😃 I’ve never understood why I really have to think about east vs. west but north vs. south isn’t an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/70 "2007-08-27T14:58:52Z")
To my husband’s vast and everlasting entertainment, in order to tell my right from my left, I must actually _look at both of my hands_. This is because I know I am right handed. I also know that there is a pen-callus on my right middle finger. Before I can use either “right” or “left” with any accuracy at all, I have to actually check which hand is on the side I mean. This is why I give directions as “make a passenger side” or “make a driver’s side”. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/71 "2007-08-27T15:03:19Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Greater than/less than signs have always stuck in my head after my sixth grade math teacher screamed during class, roared, beat his chest, climbed up on the desk and said, “I am King Kong! I point to you puny humans! Big points to little! Big points to little!” Things like that stick. 😃 I’ve never understood why I really have to think about east vs. west but north vs. south isn’t an issue. [/QUOTE] But again, why complicate it with King Kong, alligators or anything else? The symbol has a BIG end and a LITTLE end. The big end goes next to the big number. How is this not utterly intuitive? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856/72 "2007-08-27T15:18:56Z")
Spelling Rensselaer. I still have to sort of sing it in my head. I’ve lived in the Albany area for nigh upon 10 years now. Bad sense of direction, too. That spatial awareness thing in my head is broken I think. When I get inside a building I cannot, without thought, point to the front of the building. I totally get confused. And I can read a map very well. I have a hard time translating those flat pieces of paper to the real world though. I just thank Og a river runs right by Albany - I always know the river is East. I’m clumsy, too, but years of dance has taken care of that somewhat. But I have to be very careful and move slow. I can’t ever do “cool” moves like spinning around and storming off or backing up dramatically - I will inevitably crash into the wall. ETA: Oh, and I always think of the alligator to this day. Chomp, chomp. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidly-simple-things-you-always-have-trouble-with/416856.md?page=3)