Words, Phrases, and Misspellings We Hate

[MarkB]

Accept is another one. I'll take the way a lot of people use it to mean "believe" or "trust", but I have some reservations.

One that I've seen a few times recently is people using "accept" when they mean "except". I do wonder if, in at least some cases, it's the result of speech-to-text software taking a best guess.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

One that I've seen a few times recently is people using "accept" when they mean "except". I do wonder if, in at least some cases, it's the result of speech-to-text software taking a best guess.

Oh good one! How about 'effect' for 'affect' and vice versa?

Those two I actually have to think about every time I type one of them.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

New Grandma Rule: Grandma was an English teacher.

Another that just popped up in my mind -- "could of" instead of "could've" or "could have." Common speech and internet communications are full of malapropisms and mondegreens like this, though.

My mother, who teaches high school English, has kids who write 'gonna' in essays and such, actually thinking it's a legit word.

And it probably will be in a hundred years or so. And then people like me will be wondering 'Why is it spelled with an O? That's a U sound!,' not realizing the origin of the word.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Dropping ly from the end of words is another one that annoys me.

Where I come from, this happens fairly often is speech. "What's wrong, I speak proper."

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

It's. As a possessive.

Oh jeez, yeah!

Do people just not know the trick? (Replace the word with 'it is.' If the sentence still makes sense, use 'it's'; if not, use 'its.') Or do people just not care?

 

[jasper]

I think I going to lose my mind the next I see loose to mean lose. Or should I loosen up already.

 

[TwoSix]

This doesn't bother me, but it really should. It's literally a misuse of the word.

Certainly not the only word that's a contronym, just one everyone is more aware of because the definition has shifted recently.

Maybe it's because I think Chris Traegar is hilarious on Parks & Rec.

Rob Lowe plays literally the best character on that show.

 

[Cadence]

Those two I actually have to think about every time I type one of them.

I completely get that. Whenever I'm typing, the first use of a (near) homophone seems to always determine the way the rest of them are spelled throughout the document. So the first their/they're/there is typed, and my fingers go on auto-pilot for the others. Ditto, for two/to/too, accept/except, etc...

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I completely get that. Whenever I'm typing, the first use of a (near) homophone seems to always determine the way the rest of them are spelled throughout the document. So the first their/they're/there is typed, and my fingers go on auto-pilot for the others. Ditto, for two/to/too, accept/except, etc...

I'm not generally bothered by mixed up homophones, at least in informal writing.

Mixing up homophones is, statistically, the single most common mistake. It's understandable. I do it all the time, and I know the differences. When you're an experienced typist, you don't actually think about the spelling of words, just the words themselves. Your fingers simply pound out the word and move on.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ditto, for two/to/too...

...and "tew"

OK, nobody actually makes that mistake often enough to include it, but it, too, is a homophne of that word.