# What was the most badly spelled word on the SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2002, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162 "2002-12-21T02:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/21 "2002-12-22T06:03:58Z")
Grammar. An insane number of the posts in threads complaining about spelling and grammatical errors have people that spell it “grammer.” Oy, the irony… ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/22 "2002-12-22T06:25:33Z")
I think the most consistently misspelled word is “hamster.” Back when the board was _really_ slow (it’s better now, for some reason) there were innumerable “What’s wrong with the board?” threads, and there would always be “hampster” jokes. The next couple of posts would be from people saying “Damn it! It’s ‘hamster,’ there’s no ‘p’ in the word!” The next couple of posts after that would be people saying either “Whoops, I didn’t know, thanks” or “Geez, what a spelling Nazi.” The posts after _that_ would go right back to “hampster.” ---
**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:** [December 22, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/23 "2002-12-22T07:02:05Z")
Deity. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/24 "2002-12-22T07:21:07Z")
The most commonly misspelled word I see here is likely “weird”. Forgot that i before e rule you learned in grade school–there are way too many exceptions!! ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/25 "2002-12-22T07:34:55Z")
I still use the practise/practice, license/licence division to which **istara** refers above. It was drummed into us at school that -ise is the verb form and -ice the noun, and it always looks wrong to me when I see the verb used for both. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/26 "2002-12-22T20:26:33Z")
Hmmm…it appears that “atheist” is misspelled as “athiest” a lot. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/27 "2002-12-22T20:39:29Z")
alot ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/28 "2002-12-22T22:42:27Z")
It happens so frequently, that I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or not: cow-orkers. (There’s apparently a lot of people orking cows out there.) ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/29 "2002-12-22T22:55:31Z")
I think most appearances of cow-orker are done purposefully, although it _is_ an easy typo to make. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/30 "2002-12-23T04:33:31Z")
“To” for “too” I know, it’s not that funny, but it is one of the most common misspellings, at least in my own e-mails and Internet posts. Its not that I don’t know the difference, I just often type the wrong word, and of course spell check doesn’t catch it. “Mispelled” is pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/31 "2002-12-23T06:16:01Z")
Too many people on this board masterbate, and not enough masturbate. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/32 "2002-12-23T08:09:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fear Itself \* > \*\*Lose, all too frequently spelled “loose”. \*\* j Gods, yes. I see that one all the time–bugs the hell out of me. As well as the usual their/there/they’re, your/you’re, and to/too/two mixups. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/33 "2002-12-23T11:58:01Z")
I’m definitely tired of seeing ‘definitely’ spelled with an ‘a’. [sub]Did Ringo whoosh me?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/34 "2002-12-23T19:43:01Z")
Viola, meaning Voila ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/35 "2002-12-23T20:40:14Z")
alot and alright. NONONONONONONO. NO. ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/36 "2002-12-23T22:06:29Z")
SMDB ---
**Author:** ![dono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/37 "2002-12-23T22:20:17Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by YWalker_ > It happens so frequently, that I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or not: cow-orkers. Yeah, it’s intentional - it’s a reference to a Dilbert book, where Scott Adams describes his experiences as a youth “orking cows”. I read it a while back, and I must have borrowed it from somebody, because it’s not one of the ones I own (I checked), so I’m not able to provide a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/38 "2002-12-24T21:02:39Z")
How about “ **per** scription” for “ **pre** scription”? I see that all the time, and I don’t know if it is a typo, or if people really think it’s “perscription”. ---
**Author:** ![viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viking)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/39 "2002-12-24T22:17:04Z")
I’m probably too new here to have any business whining (and I’m picking nits about grammar rather than spelling, so I’m off topic, too :)), but I have never before seen `cite' used as a noun. Cite is a verb, as in `Could you cite somebody here to back up your point?’ The most appropriate nouns would be `citation' or `reference’, as in `Do you have a citation for that point?’ /me stops picking nits ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162/40 "2002-12-24T22:23:28Z")
A few that I’ve seen repeatedly on the SDMB: argument (it’s _not_ arguement) judgment (it’s _not_ judgement) And the granddaddy of them all… no one It’s _no one_, folks. Two words. No hyphen. _not_ noone _not_ no-one It’s **no one**! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-badly-spelled-word-on-the-sdmb/144162.md?page=3)