There's no A in definitely, there's no D in privilege...

[Runs_With_Scissors]

@Revtim

I know I make my share of mistakes, but seeing people using “loose” when they mean “lose” makes me cringe.

A cheerleading recruitment flyer went up at school the other day that read: We’re loosing our cheerleaders!"

My big spelling pet peeve is “fridge.” There’s no d in refrigerator, so why should there be one there?

[Q.E.D]

@brian_ax

We’re loosing our cheerleaders!

The football team will be happy to hear that. Nothing better than loose cheerleaders.

[zagloba]

You’re not the athiest! I’m way more athier than you!

[Askance]

The new one (to me anyway) is people complaining about adds on TV. Argh!

[bob_loblaw]

ghoti & ghoughphtheightteeau are two words you don’t see misspelled all that often, though from time to time, you might see an unnecessary e on the end of the latter. (thank you dan.)

[BiblioCat]

@Mindfield

For whatever reason (and I can’t for the life of me suss out the origins) some people use quotations for emphasis.

This bugs me, too, out-of-place quotation marks, especially when people are trying to use it for emphasis.

And why would they emphasize the word carts in that sentence, anyway?
I’d emphasize ‘please.’

Please do not remove the carts from the store.

[Canadjun]

@brian_ax

My big spelling pet peeve is “fridge.” There’s no d in refrigerator, so why should there be one there?

I could be wrong (and probably am), but I think “fridge” with that spelling may relate to the brand name Fridgidaire (which I’ve probably spelled wrong ).

[Malacandra]

@bob_loblaw

ghoti & ghoughphtheightteeau are two words you don’t see misspelled all that often, though from time to time, you might see an unnecessary e on the end of the latter. (thank you dan.)

I gotta say I love ghoti pie, especially when the ghoughphtheightteeau is nice and creamy.

“gh” as in “hiccough” at the start of the second one?

@gabriela

I dunno if this counts, but I was on the stand yesterday answering questions for a defense lawyer who could not understand the difference between bleeding “beneath the scalp” and “inside the skull”.

Didn’t matter if I used medical words (subgaleal hemorrhage, subdural hematoma) or “puddle of blood inside the scalp but outside the skull, versus bleeding on the brain”, he just didn’t get the distinction.

The jury did, fortunately. Smarter than the defense.

Reminds me of the doctor who informed the court that the victim of the assault “sustained bilateral, periorbital, peripheral haematomas”.

[CalMeacham]

I could be wrong (and probably am), but I think “fridge” with that spelling may relate to the brand name Fridgidaire (which I’ve probably spelled wrong ).

'Fraid you did. It’s Frigidaire: http://www.frigidaire.com/ From Frigid Air (duh!), si it doesn’t need a “d”.
The “d” is there, I’m convinced, because you’ll pronounce “fridge” with a short “i”, as if it were a free-standing syllable from “refrigerator”. But you’d pronounce “frige” as “Fry-j” or something equally cacophonous. Standing by itself. it isn’t obvious that it’s part of the word “refrigerator”. But “fridge” seems to follow the rules that give us “fudge” and “bridge”, and naturally leads to the correct pronunciation.

[Canadjun]

@CalMeacham

'Fraid you did. It’s Frigidaire: http://www.frigidaire.com/ From Frigid Air (duh!), si it doesn’t need a “d”.
The “d” is there, I’m convinced, because you’ll pronounce “fridge” with a short “i”, as if it were a free-standing syllable from “refrigerator”. But you’d pronounce “frige” as “Fry-j” or something equally cacophonous. Standing by itself. it isn’t obvious that it’s part of the word “refrigerator”. But “fridge” seems to follow the rules that give us “fudge” and “bridge”, and naturally leads to the correct pronunciation.

Oh well. I tried. I should have looked it up first.

[Malacandra]

@Otto

I hope you dei.

Thanks for that magnum opus.

(Bonus point for the correct plural of “opus”.)

[Mindfield]

@BiblioCat

This bugs me, too, out-of-place quotation marks, especially when people are trying to use it for emphasis.

And why would they emphasize the word carts in that sentence, anyway?
I’d emphasize ‘please.’

Please do not remove the carts from the store.

Perhaps because they’re trying to differentiate the carts from everything else, which they don’t mind you removing from the store at all?

“Look, man – fine, take the fruit stand, but you are not taking it out in a cart, you hear me?”

[h.sapiens]

@Malacandra

Thanks for that magnum opus.

(Bonus point for the correct plural of “opus”.)

Opera, right?

[Malacandra]

@h.sapiens

Opera, right?

Yup. Third declension neuter.

[Otto]

@Malacandra

Reminds me of the doctor who informed the court that the victim of the assault “sustained bilateral, periorbital, peripheral haematomas”.

Two black eyes?

@CalMeacham

The “d” is there, I’m convinced, because you’ll pronounce “fridge” with a short “i”, as if it were a free-standing syllable from “refrigerator”. But you’d pronounce “frige” as “Fry-j” or something equally cacophonous. Standing by itself. it isn’t obvious that it’s part of the word “refrigerator”. But “fridge” seems to follow the rules that give us “fudge” and “bridge”, and naturally leads to the correct pronunciation.

Plus, if you used the actual letters from the word you’d have “frig” which means something entirely different.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@CalMeacham

The “d” is there, I’m convinced, because you’ll pronounce “fridge” with a short “i”, as if it were a free-standing syllable from “refrigerator”. But you’d pronounce “frige” as “Fry-j” or something equally cacophonous. Standing by itself. it isn’t obvious that it’s part of the word “refrigerator”. But “fridge” seems to follow the rules that give us “fudge” and “bridge”, and naturally leads to the correct pronunciation.

So, when you shorten “microphone” to just the first syllable, is it spelled “mic” or “mike”?

[CalMeacham]

So, when you shorten “microphone” to just the first syllable, is it spelled “mic” or “mike”?

I think this is intended to be humorous, but it proves my point. I have seen “mike” written as short for “microphone”, but never “mic”.

[fishbicycle]

@CalMeacham

I think this is intended to be humorous, but it proves my point. I have seen “mike” written as short for “microphone”, but never “mic”.

Really? In radio and live sound, in catalogues and everywhere else, I’ve only seen it spelled “mic.”

[Q.E.D]

@CalMeacham

I have seen “mike” written as short for “microphone”, but never “mic”.

I’ve seen “mic” used fairly frequently. Mostly in technical manuals and on equipment inputs. “Mike” seems to be more frequently used in novels and other prose, IME. Googlefight using mic microphone gives 10,600,000 results, while mike microphone gives 5,750,000.

[Tupug_Anachi]

@postcards

Oh, yea. There’s no ‘A’ in ‘Cemetery’.

And the express check-out is for 10 items or FEWER, dammit. (But I’ve noticed they’re getting better. ‘Less’ shows up a lot.)

It’s “checkout” (one word). Check-in gets the hyphen.

Cannot as two words annoys me. Also saying your curiosity has been “peaked” rather than the correct “piqued.”