# Words and names you confuse easily or often **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197 "2009-03-12T14:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/1 "2009-03-12T14:32:09Z")
Another thread in CS brought up the name Hopalong Cassidy and it reminded me that I have always wondered what the origin of that name is, but I also immediately want to call him Hopatcong. Others I tend to interchange include: [Quanah\_Parker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanah_Parker) is too much like Bonnie Parker (of Clyde Barrow fame) Lou Rawls and Sonny Rollins Shelly Winters and Shirley Booth Doesn’t have to be people. Can be any two (or more) things you tend to swap names for. And it’s not so much looks, either. There’s a “Separated at Birth” thread going for that type of interchanging. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/2 "2009-03-12T18:48:17Z")
Chris Rock and Kid Rock I only know who Chris Rock is, so when I hear “Kid Rock” I think Chris Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/3 "2009-03-13T20:56:11Z")
This is stupefying. Nobody confused about such things as hypotenuse and hippopotamus and hippocampus? This issue must have been beaten to death in some other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/4 "2009-03-13T21:49:31Z")
Well I just saw ‘prom’ and my brain read ‘porn’… “WOO-HOO–Bernie Madoff’s porn night is TONIGHT” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/5 "2009-03-13T21:58:09Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Well I just saw ‘prom’ and my brain read ‘porn’… > > “WOO-HOO–Bernie Madoff’s porn night is TONIGHT” I’d wager that at least 1 out of 5 thread titles cause me to misread at least one word on the first pass. Sometimes, I keep seeing that weird word wrong for several readings until it finally comes across as what was intended. It’s even worse when the wrong word is in the title and makes as much sense as the intended word. What’s even more embarrassing is when I have proofread a post at least twice and then find (after submitting it) at least one spelling or typing error. The edit function has allowed me to fix most of those, though. I think I even started a thread one time for the purpose of listing misread titles. As I recall, it got little or no action. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/6 "2009-03-14T00:12:55Z")
Colin Firth and Colin Farrell (sp?). One has huge, caterpillar eyebrows and the other is in **Bridget Jones’ Diary** and **Love Actually**. I’m sorry – I do not know which is which. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/7 "2009-03-14T00:31:50Z")
Rosario Dawson and Roxann Dawson. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/8 "2009-03-14T07:02:47Z")
Homophones when I’m typing. I’ll be typing along and correctly type the phonetic spelling of the word I’m thinking but it’s the wrong word. “they’re, their” “write,right” etc… ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/9 "2009-03-15T03:41:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Homophones when I’m typing. I’ll be typing along and correctly type the phonetic spelling of the word I’m thinking but it’s the wrong word. “they’re, their” “write,right” etc… Then there are words that are homophones only if you have a regional accent. Having grown up in Appalachia and having\*\* Magiver\*\*'s propensity for phonetic spelling, I sometimes type “are” for “our.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-names-you-confuse-easily-or-often/489197/10 "2022-04-14T23:13:10Z")
Spelling variations of common names abound, but the following are distinct names of people I know: Maaike Miika Mike Mica Mika Micah I think they are all unrelated? But it occurred to me that some of them would be hard to tell apart over a bad telephone connection, or if you had a really bad memory or blurry vision. (Maybe there are other sets of examples? eg Nico vs Neko? )