Last week I was having dinner with my friends Kelly and Sundra, two women who are well-educated, well-read and excellent writers with blogs of their own (click on their names to find them). Odd then, how we all openly admitted to incorrectly spelling some of the simplest words, or as I call them, word-sticklers.
For me, the words are necessity and surprise. Even now, I waited while typing for spell check to correct me. Is there one ‘s’? Is there a second ‘r’ in surprise, because when I type it all I can hear in my head is Gomer Pyle, and I think it looks stupid.
In a letter last week I was texting the sentence: “We will have to asses the situation.” Woa. That’s not the correct spelling for assess. So I did what I call a Porky Pig. I said to myself, “Is it asses, asess, assess? Oh just type evaluate.”
My friends were kind and admitted they too had issues. For Kelly it was the word whether. When she types it, sometimes she doesn’t know whether to use that version, or weather to use this version. For Sundra, it was the word restaurant.
“I always stick that ‘u’ in the wrong place?” she said. I’m sure you weren’t the only one dining out that night who does, Sundra.
I was so happy they admitted it, for it makes it easier now when I do find a word that flabbergasts me. I know I’ll encounter them again. Surprise, surprise, surprise!
Do you have word-sticklers in your life?
31 Comments on Word-sticklers
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Your almost their.
I still need to refer to sources (“Rules for Writers,” “Things That Make Us [Sic],” or “Woe Is I, ” etc.) for the correct usage of “effect” and “affect,” especially the latter.
“Accommodate” and “embarrassing” are two that always trip me up. I also have trouble remembering which form of “complimentary” to use (complimentary or complementary).
And it’s not one I spell wrong but I have a really hard time typing the word “generosity.” It just doesn’t flow… I have to think about every keystroke. Weird, right?
Weird no, completely understandable, yes. It’s like trying to pronounce “octagonal.” It’s oc-tag-onal, but oct-a-gonal comes into my head first.
Karen – you’d think that as much I enjoy dining out, I would be able to spell my word-stickler without a pause. Fun post!
Thanks. And as often as things surprise me, you think I’d have that one figured out. But noooo. Sometimes, I think it even should be spelled with a ‘z’- surprize!
Mine was ‘necessary’ growing up, and now it is occasion…two c’s? Two s’s? It gets me every time…
One of mine is “accommodate” too. It just doesn’t look right – even when it is!
So the Porky Pig version for that word is “adjust.”
I always remember that accommodate can accommodate both 2 c’s and 2 m’s!
My trouble word is license. Can never remember whether the c or s comes first.
This gave me the biggest chuckle. Especially Ted’s comment. And I love the phrase “porky pig version”.
“Occasionally”, “accommodate”, and “exercise” are my word sticklers. And my “congratulations” always seems to want a “d” in place of the first “t”. Thank goodness for spell check.
Congratulations does it for me too. But whenever I think of it with a “d” in it, I wonder if I wouldn’t sound a little drunk saying it that way. Congrad… congrad… hick… congradulations.
occasion and it’s offspring…definitely sticklers! 🙂
For me, it’s “license” and “occasion”. C’s and S’s mock me.
I have always had trouble with “occasionally.” I often type “ocassionally.” I now remember because I don’t want to come of as an “ass.”
For me it’s “acknowledgement,” which is a darn shame because sending them is a large part of my job.
“Diarrhea” is the word that stumps me (I had to look it up to use here). Fortunately I don’t have to write it that often but when I do, unlike the word meaning, the flow of whatever I was writing comes to an insecure, grinding halt.
Diarrhea is one of mine too, and I hope this is the correct spelling for hemorrage!
Hemorrhoid is just as silly.
Not so much spelling as typing. My brain continues words… “Aspirin” always seems to get an extra “g” and become “aspiring”.
For me it’s “nauseous” (as in “I feel nauseous.”). I can only guess there are too many vowels and I want to put them in the wrong order.
Another one I made a conscious effort to memorize is “entrepreneurship”.
My biggies are “exercise” and “awkward”. You know it’s bad when even the spell checker doesn’t know what you’re trying to say – which happens with exercise almost every time. “Oversize? crevices? expertise? What on earth are you trying to type?”
It’s amusing to know that I am not the only one messing up every-day-words My sticklers have always been ‘occasionally’ and ‘happened’.
Mine is forty. I have no idea why I always want to write “fourty” even though I know it’s wrong.
Definitely
Accommodate
Exercise
Restaurant
License
I could go on and on…..
The older I get, the longer the list seems to grow : )
Occasion is my bug-a-boo.
My spell check will definitely (definetly) acknowledge the mistake I’ve made; On most occasions (occaisions) it’s the word, experiment (expirement). Awkward (Ackward), these funny little anomalies (anamolies)us wordsmiths walk with.
(My list grows with age as well)
I pretty much always have trouble with guarantee and embarrass (though I just got both right on the first try.) And yes, license. Oy!
There are several that I have trouble with, but the most frequent ones are calender and lavender—I always want to put another “a” in there!