# Word Spellings You Hate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775 "2009-04-20T20:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [April 24, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/81 "2009-04-24T13:47:17Z")
> [@Auntbeast](#): > > I can never get Restaurant right, I even worked in them for years and my brother is a chef. I just remember that it’s a 3-syllable word, not a 2-syllable like a lot of people pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/82 "2009-04-24T17:39:17Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I hate the “re” when it should be “er” type thing > > You know , “theatre,” “metre,” etc The -re ending is more logical and consistent, unless you plan to start using the meteric system, or get all theaterical on me. > [@acsenray](#): > > _Jail_, the word, is not an Americanism. Oscar Wilde wasn’t American. Gandhi wasn’t sent to jail in America. Oscar Wilde didn’t go to jail. He went to Reading Gaol, not Reading Jail. Jail is definitely an American term. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > If it makes you feel better, “rime” is an acceptable alternate spelling … Only if you are an ancient mariner. ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/83 "2009-04-24T17:48:01Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > ‘Business’ looks like it should be pronounced Bussy-ness, why isn’t it spelled ‘bizness’ Or ‘bidness’ 😃 Yeah, that one always looked strange to me as a kid. Same with marriage and carriage. I used to always used to write ‘carraige’ and ‘marraige’ in school. :o ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/84 "2009-04-24T18:08:19Z")
One that doesn’t seem right queue I never understood that ‘innocent’ was pronounced with a soft c for decades. innosent - thats what it shoud be. One word that never seems right when hand written - ‘guard’, sometimes I have to try it out a few times on scrap paper before using it. …and while I’m at it, Yacht - wtf is that word? it does not seem to fit in with anything at all. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/85 "2009-04-24T18:42:48Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Tonne is not an alternative spelling of “ton” - it is a word in its own right with a (slightly) different meaning. A “ton” is an Imperial measure of weight, and is 2,240 lbs (outside of North America, which has its own “ton” or “short ton” of 2,000 lbs). A “tonne” is a metric ton, i.e. 1,000 kilograms, or 2,205 pounds. That actually helps me in the work I’m supposed to be doing right now. Here I thought I was screwing around, and it turns out I’m doing vital research! ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/86 "2009-04-24T18:47:00Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Vacuum??? WTF!!! This may be a matter of common pronunciation changing. Consider how “continuum” is pronounced–“vacuum” was probably “vac-you-um” until the barbarians got ahold of it. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/87 "2009-04-24T18:52:06Z")
I really hate the whole affect/effect thing. If something affects something else, it has an effect on it, but the words are pronounced the same. So people say, if it’s a verb it’s affect. Except that’s not always true–to effect change, for instance. Here the word has a different meaning, but not that much different. Even people who understand the rules have to really stop and think about it each time and that’s jus tstupid. Principal and principle – same rant. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/88 "2009-04-24T18:57:28Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Oscar Wilde didn’t go to jail. He went to Reading Gaol, not Reading Jail. Jail is definitely an American term. They’re the same _term_, just with two different spellings. And it’s my impression that in the U.K., “jail” is now the more common spelling. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/89 "2009-04-24T19:05:03Z")
Remembering how to pronounce _Ralph Fiennes_ gives me a _substantive_ amount of _agita_. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/90 "2009-04-24T19:08:11Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > I really hate the whole affect/effect thing. If something affects something else, it has an effect on it, but the words are pronounced the same. So people say, if it’s a verb it’s affect. Except that’s not always true–to effect change, for instance. Here the word has a different meaning, but not that much different. Even people who understand the rules have to really stop and think about it each time and that’s jus tstupid. > > Principal and principle – same rant. The _principal_ is your _pal_. 😃 I actually find that mnemonic useful. First, it underscores that a _principal_ can be a person whereas a _principle_ cannot. Secondly, it brings to mind that a _principal_ is the main official of a school and as such is short for _principal educator_. From there it’s easy to see which word is used when. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/91 "2009-04-24T20:27:51Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > I never understood that ‘innocent’ was pronounced with a soft c for decades. > > innosent - thats what it shoud be. That’s funny–the c-e combination is virtually always a soft c. (Well, in English. You wouldn’t happen to be a native speaker of Latin or Elvish?) And speaking of Latin and Elvish… Who else was angry at Tolkien for sneaking the always-hard c rule into an appendix at the end of RotK? Of course, it’s ignored by most, but for conscientious geek kids like me, it was quite the “oh, crap” moment when we got the third volume from the library and descended on the “words and names” appendix with glee, only to find out that the pronunciations in our heads were very, very wrong. Well, yeah, then it turns into a shibboleth for true obsessives, but sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/92 "2009-04-24T21:06:53Z")
singular PENNY plural PENNIES singular MONKEY plural MONKEYS The film title 12 Monkeys always looked wrong to me. I kept thinking it should be Monkies. Why isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/93 "2009-04-24T21:09:48Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > That’s funny–the c-e combination is virtually always a soft c. (Well, in English. You wouldn’t happen to be a native speaker of Latin or Elvish?) > > And speaking of Latin and Elvish… > Who else was angry at Tolkien for sneaking the always-hard c rule into an appendix at the end of RotK? Of course, it’s ignored by most, but for conscientious geek kids like me, it was quite the “oh, crap” moment when we got the third volume from the library and descended on the “words and names” appendix with glee, only to find out that the pronunciations in our heads were very, very wrong. > > Well, yeah, then it turns into a shibboleth for true obsessives, but sheesh. I too was vexed by this. I am much less a writer than the Perfesser, of course. But in creating my fictional language for my fantasy novel, the very second thing I decided was to almost-completely ignore the letter _c_, as it is inherently ambiguous to an English user. The voiceless velar plosive is always _k_; the voiceless alveolar fricative is always _s_. _C_ appears only in _ch_. That said, I totally stole the _dh_ thing. I stole it and I’m not giving it back. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/94 "2009-04-24T21:11:23Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > singular PENNY plural PENNIES > singular MONKEY plural MONKEYS > The film title 12 Monkeys always looked wrong to me. I kept thinking it should be Monkies. Why isn’t it? _Y_ only becomes _ie_ when pluralized if the preceding letter is a consonant. One _try_; two _tries_. One One _turkey_; two turkeys. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/95 "2009-04-24T21:12:34Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > singular PENNY plural PENNIES > singular MONKEY plural MONKEYS > The film title 12 Monkeys always looked wrong to me. I kept thinking it should be Monkies. Why isn’t it? Don’t know, but what makes it even worse is that the plural of MONEY is MONIES. English is a screwed-up language. My picks: Sacrilege/sacrilegious: Totally nonintuitive. Seems like it ought to be “sacreligious.” Liquefy: It’s a liquId, so why isn’t it “liquify”? Palimpsest: I just hate that word. I hate words with lots of P’s in them (pump, pimp, plump, pimple, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/96 "2009-04-24T21:24:31Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > _Y_ only becomes _ie_ when pluralized if the preceding letter is a consonant. > > One _try_; two _tries_. One > > One _turkey_; two turkeys. Ineresting. I’ve never heard that rule before. > [@winterhawk11](#): > > Don’t know, but what makes it even worse is that the plural of MONEY is MONIES. Is it? That would appear to break Skald’s rule. According to the online [dictionary](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=money), either monies or moneys is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/97 "2009-04-24T21:26:35Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Is it? That would appear to break Skald’s rule. > > According to the online [dictionary](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=money), either monies or moneys is correct. This might well be true, but I’ve never seen it spelled “moneys.” Seems like it ought to be, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/98 "2009-04-24T21:30:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Ineresting. I’ve never heard that rule before. > > Is it? That would appear to break Skald’s rule. > > According to the online [dictionary](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=money), either monies or moneys is correct. How many times must I tell you people to stop bothering me with **facts**! Facts are but a crutch for people who lack [del]hulring axes[/del] the courage to enforce their wills upon on others! The consonant thing is what I was always taught in school and what I taught in my brief, ill-thought-out teaching career. But there’s always exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/99 "2009-04-25T00:47:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That said, I totally stole the _dh_ thing. I stole it and I’m not giving it back. The dh thing actually makes phonetic sense, too. Tin:thin :: den:then/dhen. Why can’t it really be like this? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775/100 "2009-04-25T02:14:20Z")
its, in the sense of ‘belonging to it’. Why doesn’t it have a possessive apostrophe? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-spellings-you-hate/493775.md?page=6)