Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling

[mrainey]

also when it starts with e but sounds like y
a ewe

ewe, yew, you = huh?

[Curt]

ewe
Pronunciation:     'yü, in rural dials also 'yō
Function:           noun
Etymology:          Middle English, from Old English ēowu; akin to Old High German ouwi ewe, Latin ovis sheep, Greek ois
Date:               before 12th century

: the female of the sheep especially when mature also : the female of various related animals

-Babylon

also when it starts with e but sounds like y
a ewe

ewe, yew, you = huh?

-mrainey (January 03, 2010, 05:21 PM)

- yes, almost exactly! Kind of a short "you" where the last "u" is just a tiny different.

[Eóin]

Perhaps we should add pronunciation errors, too. I'm ready for this century to be "20_._" as in "Twenty-ten," not Two-thousand ten. Yet the idiots on my TeeVee keep saying the latter. I don't remember them saying "Nineteen hundred seventy-five"!

-zridling (January 01, 2010, 06:39 PM)

You have something to do with this site Zaine? http://www.twentynot2000.com/

[Edvard]

But a few days ago were you saying "Twenty-nine"? Or "Twenty-Oh-Nine"?

-Innuendo (January 01, 2010, 10:36 PM)

Years ago I looked up what they called the first decade of the 1900s. Most used the term "aught," as in 19-aught-7, or "Back in 'aught-04' we ate dirt and were glad to have it!" I've since said 20-aught-1,2,3,... 9 to the quirky faces of my friends. You might also ask, will the same "TeeVee" people say "Twenty-one hundred fourteen" in the next century!
 

-zridling (January 03, 2010, 03:45 AM)

I vowed to say "Two-kay" (2K) early on in 2000, but never followed through much.
Everybody I know says "Two thousand" before the numerator.
Funny thing, most of those folks say "Twenty-twelve" when they discuss the so-called 'End of the world predicted by the Aztecs'.  

Either way, I'm such a die-hard optimist that I hope I'm wrong about my pessimism for 2K10...  

[CleverCat]

When will people learn to pronounce Escape correctly!

It's not exscape.....

[nosh]

One of today's top Diggs. ('Digg's?... "Digg"s ? nm!)

[CleverCat]

 

[J-Mac]

There is one particular grammar mistake that really irks me: a/an usage.

People that misuse them tend to fall into 2 groups:

Native English speakers that tend to overuse "a".

• Examples: a apple, a egg, a ice cream cone, a octopus, a umbrella

Non-native English speakers that tend to overuse "an".

• Examples: an ball, an computer, an shirt.

The native English speakers bother me more than the non-native ones, since this is something you should have learned early on in grammar school.

-app103 (January 02, 2010, 09:46 AM)

Biggest issue with a / an is which to use before an acronym. E.g., "an FBI agent" ("an" modifying the "eff" sound) or "a FBI agent" ("a" modifying the word Federal that the F stands for). I have always used the former - mainly because the latter just sounds stupid! - but when trying to settle a small debate on this I researched on the web and found authorities backing both usages. Go figure!

Jim

[parkint]

There is one particular grammar mistake that really irks me: a/an usage.

People that misuse them tend to fall into 2 groups:

Native English speakers that tend to overuse "a".

• Examples: a apple, a egg, a ice cream cone, a octopus, a umbrella

Non-native English speakers that tend to overuse "an".

• Examples: an ball, an computer, an shirt.

The native English speakers bother me more than the non-native ones, since this is something you should have learned early on in grammar school.

-app103 (January 02, 2010, 09:46 AM)

I agree.
The other one that 'irks' me even more is Me  versus I
All through grade school the teachers were pounding into the students, "Mary and I go to the market".

Yet, today, I cringe when I hear a statement like, "At the party it will only be William and I"
Subject versus* Predicate.


*Writing this post reminded me of two more (seen in written language):
per say  (to mean per se)
verses  (to represent versus)

And then there is the ubiquitous, "ect."  Which shouldn't be a problem for anyone who has worked on the command line in Unix

[cranioscopical]

All through grade school the teachers were pounding into the students, "Mary and I go to the market".

Yet, today, I cringe when I hear a statement like, "At the party it will only be William and I"

-parkint (January 28, 2010, 11:49 AM)

Some parties deserve a lamb basting!

[J-Mac]

I agree.
The other one that 'irks' me even more is Me  versus I
All through grade school the teachers were pounding into the students, "Mary and I go to the market".

Yet, today, I cringe when I hear a statement like, "At the party it will only be William and I"
Subject versus* Predicate.

-parkint (January 28, 2010, 11:49 AM)

To be fair, I remember teachers who likened any usage of the words "...and me..." together at any time to committing a felony! I guess they felt that trying to distinguish correct usage from incorrect was hair-splitting to a degree that not many children would understand, so they just outlawed all uses.

Thanks!

Jim

[zridling]

Besides common misspellings, perhaps the two biggest abuses online are the lack of apostrophes or their misuse. If you pay attention to such details, it will drive you mad.

[zridling]

This author has a new one out on http://theoatmeal.com/ on semicolons.