# Words that look misspelled **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793 "2004-12-08T19:24:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Assuming\_facts\_not\_in\_evidence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Assuming\_facts\_not\_in\_evidence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Assuming_facts_not_in_evidence)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/41 "2004-12-11T20:56:44Z")
I think that all frequently misspelled words should simply be respelled. The powers that be should endorse such changes - not as strict as the language boards in France and South Africa, but still somebody official should just weigh in on the stupidity of schools enforcing difficult spellings. Words such as fluorescent and buoy and vacuum would become florescent and boy and vacume, at least as acceptable alternate spellings. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/42 "2004-12-11T21:14:26Z")
Exorbitant. I didn’t realize that I had a mental filter on this word: It was pronounced “exorbinent” to my ears, and that is basically what I saw when I read it. I assume I had no need to write it myself. Until about a year ago - I was writing something and MS Word’s pesky auto-spellcheck function caught me out. I shook my head, tried a few times and finally went online and checked. I had never noticed I was hearing and seeing it spelled a different way than it actually is… ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/43 "2004-12-11T23:13:21Z")
> [@Antiochus](#): > > There’s no ‘k’ sound in the spigot I’ve used all these years. It’s a hard ‘g’ and the word rhymes with ‘dig it’ as you can hear at > > [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=spigot&x=0&y=0](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=spigot&x=0&y=0) > > If you’re not using IE as your browser, once you see the definition and click on the speaker icon, look in next the window towards the bottom to click on the option that lets you hear the word on your default audio player. Let me introduce you to a little thing called regional dialects. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/44 "2004-12-11T23:45:08Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Let me introduce you to a little thing called regional dialects. Why thank you Henry Higgins. I’m well acquainted with the concept. Among other pronunciations regional dialects have given us, are Dubya’s ‘nucular’, Nixon’s 'particuly, Fords’s ‘judg-uh-ment’ and a bunch of other modes of expressionswhich Dopers are talking about in this same thread. I simply offered Webster’s pronunciation for **spigot** , which happens to agree with _my_ regional dialect, and I wasn’t trying to force it on anyone. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/45 "2004-12-11T23:59:17Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > “Supersede”. Why the hell isn’t it "supercede? Because the last part is from the Latin sedere, to sit; supersedere = to sit above. -cede is from caedere, to fall. ---
**Author:** ![Spiratu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@Spiratu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiratu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/46 "2004-12-12T02:21:35Z")
> [@Sunshine and Smiles](#): > > Why the hell isn’t it spelled “excercise”? Instead, you have “exercise.” The implications are astounding. What implications? The x implies an s sound, because X in the middle of a word always sounds like “ks”. Thus “Mexico” is pronounced “Mecksico” and “sex” ends with the same sound as “socks”. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/47 "2004-12-12T15:52:48Z")
> [@zut](#): > > “Neither seized weird leisure, either at that height.” Have it repeated in a sing-song voice once a day, every day, for the better part of a year, by your eighth grade English teacher. It’ll stick with you well into adulthood. Another saying is “Neither foreign sovereign seized the counterfeit and forfeited leisure”. I teach reading using a phonics program. The sad thing is, I can explain the reasoning behind the spelling for almost every word that has been listed so far. I’m a dork. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/48 "2004-12-12T17:59:15Z")
> [@Spiratu](#): > > What implications? The x implies an s sound, because X in the middle of a word always sounds like “ks”. Thus “Mexico” is pronounced “Mecksico” and “sex” ends with the same sound as “socks”. No, no, no. I’m talking about words that look alike, like excite, which to me, don’t seem to follow the same rule as exercise. Admittedly, however, it is a different sound being produced in excite and exercise, but to me, you need that -c- to go from exer-cise to ex-cer-cise. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/49 "2004-12-12T18:33:09Z")
Not I–she was my third-grade teacher, and my parents were called into a conference because I insisted in class that the words “February” and “Wednesday” could not _possibly_ be spelled like that, and if they were, well, _someone_ was falling down on the job. [My parents were also called in because I was giving Mrs. Wolf “dirty looks,” and as you know, where _I_ give dirty looks, no grass grows, _ever_.] ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/50 "2004-12-12T18:44:11Z")
[QUOTE=Antiochus] Why thank you Henry Higgins. I’m well acquainted with the concept. Among other pronunciations regional dialects have given us, are Dubya’s ‘nucular’, Nixon’s 'particuly, Fords’s ‘judg-uh-ment’ and a bunch of other modes of expressionswhich Dopers are talking about in this same thread. QUOTE] If you are well acquainted, then don’t be a jackass by crapping on anyone’s parade. Additionally, your examples are lame, and not analogous (and happen to all be republicans). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/51 "2004-12-12T20:01:24Z")
a bit harsh there, aren’t you **Phil**? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/52 "2004-12-12T20:31:59Z")
The term for when a word doesn’t sound like a word due to repetition is _semantic satiation_ ======================\* The More You Know …anyway, I’m an excellent speller. But to this day, “friend” sometimes screws me up. Is it “ei” or “ie”? ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/53 "2004-12-12T20:40:50Z")
[QUOTE=Philster] > [@Antiochus](#): > > Why thank you Henry Higgins. > > I’m well acquainted with the concept. Among other pronunciations regional dialects have given us, are Dubya’s ‘nucular’, Nixon’s 'particuly, Fords’s ‘judg-uh-ment’ and a bunch of other modes of expressionswhich Dopers are talking about in this same thread. > > QUOTE] > If you are well acquainted, then don’t be a jackass by crapping on anyone’s parade. Additionally, your examples are lame, and not analogous (and happen to all be republicans). You stayed up all night thinking, and this is the best you could come up with? Talk about lame… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/54 "2004-12-12T20:56:46Z")
**coincide** I am going to murder your money! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793/55 "2004-12-12T20:59:25Z")
Recieve? Or receive? Which can it bbbeeeeeeeeee…?!? :eek: :eek: :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-look-misspelled/278793.md?page=2)