# Words you spelled wrong because you only heard them **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662 "2011-03-22T23:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/21 "2011-03-24T00:21:44Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Bomsit. As in ‘this room looks like a bomb’s hit.’ I thought it was a single noun meaning 'messy place,. It wasn’t until I was 10 or 11 that a teacher queried it and worked out that it was ‘bomb’s hit.’ I still want to use it as a word. Not my story, but a guy I knew who was a teacher in Newcastle (and it really only makes sense if you know the accent) had two words written by children in essays that he had to follow up and find out what they meant by hearing the kid say it out loud. One was a material that the kid’s father made a rabbit hutch out of: **yrnetn** Wire netting And the other was a kid’s favourite food: **metntatipi** Meat and tatty pie ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/22 "2011-03-24T00:51:51Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Oh, yeah! In the Baltimore suburb where I grew up, there used to be a hair-cutting place called “Divine Allusions”; big old sign outside that they no doubt paid a _lot_ of money for. I never could drive by there without thinking “OK, but what are they alluding _to_??” 😉 Clearly, they are alluding to the divine – creating a work of art on your head which is a reference designed to make people think of the divine. I don’t think it was a spelling error at all; it makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/23 "2011-03-24T01:00:21Z")
Yeah, If I had a choice between getting my hair cut at Divine Allusions or Divine Illusions, I’d pick the former. I don’t want a fakeout on my head. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/24 "2011-03-24T01:22:22Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Yeah, If I had a choice between getting my hair cut at Divine Allusions or Divine Illusions, I’d pick the former. I don’t want a fakeout on my head. Fine, but if you ever find yourself in Alaska, stop by Divine Aleutians. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/25 "2011-03-24T01:30:24Z")
None for all intensive porpoises. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/26 "2011-03-24T07:50:24Z")
I’m not sure if it really counts, but I always want to spell acceptable as acceptible. I pronounce -able slightly different from -ible, so those two words are pronounced differently (ack-SEP-tuh-buhl vs. ack-SEP-tih-buhl) In my mind, acceptable should be pronounced like the former, but it’s stuck in my head as the latter. Am I making sense? ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/27 "2011-03-24T12:37:07Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I saw a print ad using the word tchotchke, only they had spelled it “[chachki](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chachki)” and all I could think was, “Why would anyone use a word if they didn’t know how to spell it? Especially in an ad!” Similar to this, I hate seeing “wa-la!” or “walla!” in the place of “_voila!_”. My daughter thought that a \*bowen arrow \*was a specific type of weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/28 "2011-03-25T02:04:21Z")
As a kid I was frustrated by my classmates writing “sike” for “psyche.” Come on, it’s a _mind_ thing! I’m now proud of my 7-year-old’s fearless readiness to write words she’s never seen, like “aquamarine,” which she rendered a while back as “okwamaryn.” > [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I was in my 30’s before I realized that there’s a PH in “amphitheater”. I had always spelled it and pronounced it as “amplitheater.” After all, it’s a _theater_ that is constructed to naturally _amplify_ sound from the stage. > > I still don’t know why that “ph” is in there. It’s actually nothing to do with “amplify.” That’s Latin. The “amphi-” is Greek, meaning of both kinds or on both sides. Thus “amphibian.” The classical Greek theater, or viewing place, was a tiered semicircle–now often called an amphitheater. But a true amphitheater is like two theaters together, on both sides, making a complete or nearly-complete ring–what we’d often call a stadium. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/29 "2011-03-25T02:30:55Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > Sherbert/sherbet. I didn’t find out that was wrong until years later, and I was my school’s spelling bee champ three years in a row. We always pronounced it with an “r” in the second syllable, as do many people, so I was surprised to find out there wasn’t one. I still get this wrong on those extremely rare occasions when I have to spell it. And I have a non-rhotic accent, so for me they’re pronounced the same! > [@SciFiSam](#): > > Bomsit. As in ‘this room looks like a bomb’s hit.’ I thought it was a single noun meaning 'messy place,. It wasn’t until I was 10 or 11 that a teacher queried it and worked out that it was ‘bomb’s hit.’ I still want to use it as a word. I thought this was going to have some sort of relation to “bedsit” when I first saw the word! 🙂 (I probably also subconsciously saw the words “room” and “place” looming further on.) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/30 "2011-03-25T02:40:00Z")
As a child from a learned (that’s learn-ED) family, but book-oriented, I knew very well what a _vagina_ was from reading, but the word was never spoken in my family, at least not at the dinner table. I assumed it was pronounced VAG-in-uh, rhymes with BAG-in-uh. My first real girlfriend set me straight, as it were. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/31 "2011-03-25T10:00:52Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > As a child from a learned (that’s learn-ED) family, but book-oriented, I knew very well what a _vagina_ was from reading, but the word was never spoken in my family, at least not at the dinner table. I assumed it was pronounced VAG-in-uh, rhymes with BAG-in-uh. My first real girlfriend set me straight, as it were. You should be in [t’other](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601674) thread! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/32 "2011-03-25T12:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > As a child from a learned (that’s learn-ED) family, but book-oriented, I knew very well what a vagina was from reading, but the word was never spoken in my family, at least not at the dinner table. I assumed it was pronounced VAG-in-uh, rhymes with BAG-in-uh. My first real girlfriend set me straight, as it were. Ahh – good point. When I first read _clitoris_ I though it sort of rhymed with the mouthwash _Lavoris_ — _Kly_ - TAW – _riss_. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/33 "2011-03-25T16:33:13Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > … > When we were first assigned papers to write in school, they called them “S.A.'s”. For the longest time I tried to parse what the initials stood for (Smooth Authorship? Scribbled Anecdotes?) until one day I sheepishly learned the truth… > . I thought something similar. I remember my mother telling me at some point in elementary school that I would be encountering “essay questions” soon. I heard that as “S.A. Questions”, but I don’t recall being too concerned about what it stood for. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/34 "2011-03-25T17:16:07Z")
- I used “wa-la” in an essay when I was in 5th grade = _ **voila** _ - I want to spell \*\*\*exorbitant \*\*\*= “exorbinant” because most folks roll over the first T and it sounds more N-ish - I want to spell \*\*\*larynx \*\*\*= “larnyx” because, I swear, that is what I hear when most people say it. Lar-nyx. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/35 "2011-03-25T18:54:49Z")
> [@A.Gwilliam](#): > > You should be in [t’other](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601674) thread! 🙂 Yeah, too late I realized, then I hoped no one would notice. Thanks for noticing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662/36 "2011-03-25T20:34:10Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Yeah, too late I realized, then I hoped no one would notice. Thanks for noticing. 🙂 :o;)😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-spelled-wrong-because-you-only-heard-them/575662.md?page=1)