Hardest word for you to spell

[StringJunky]

What words catch you out where you have to check? I have a problem remembering 'manoeuvre' and 'rhythm'  for two.

[Strange]

Diarrhoea (I had to copy and paste that from t'Internet) is about the only one that causes a problem for me. Luckily, I don't have to write it very often.

[John Cuthber]

In terms of "most often misspelled", I think it's "the".

[StringJunky]

1 minute ago, Strange said:

Diarrhoea (I had to copy and paste that from t'Internet) is about the only one that causes a problem for me. Luckily, I don't have to write it very often.

Yeah, that's a pain.

Just now, John Cuthber said:

In terms of "most often misspelled", I think it's "the".

What are the alternatives?

[John Cuthber]

teh

 

[MigL]

What's a pain ?
The diarrhea or the spelling ?

[StringJunky]

3 minutes ago, MigL said:

What's a pain ?
The diarrhea or the spelling ?

See, even you can't spell it.   (I know, you do it the American way)

[geordief]

covfefe(had to copy and paste)

 

All heil the covfefe.....

Edited January 13, 2018 by geordief

[iNow]

Cancelled. Or, is it canceled?

12 hours ago, StringJunky said:

and 'rhythm’

Me, too. 

[zapatos]

I'm embarassed that I can never seem to remember how to spell embarrassed. 

[iNow]

Unnecessary 

[Phi for All]

On 1/13/2018 at 4:26 AM, Strange said:

Diarrhoea (I had to copy and paste that from t'Internet) is about the only one that causes a problem for me. Luckily, I don't have to write it very often.

On 1/13/2018 at 4:28 AM, StringJunky said:

Yeah, that's a pain.

On 1/13/2018 at 4:58 AM, MigL said:

What's a pain ?
The diarrhea or the spelling ?

On 1/13/2018 at 5:03 AM, StringJunky said:

See, even you can't spell it.   (I know, you do it the American way)

The British way looks more painfully spelled, which seems unnecessarily embarrassing. 

 

[Strange]

1 minute ago, Phi for All said:

The British way looks more painfully spelled, which seems unnecessarily embarrassing. 

 

I think most people would spell it, "the runs".

[Phi for All]

27 minutes ago, Strange said:

I think most people would spell it, "the runs".

Not "the trots"? That's what I call it, and I've ALWAYS used a posh accent to juxtapose the vulgarity of the subject. "The runs" sounds more American to me. 

 

 

Many years ago, computer spellcheck cured me of a weird tendency to misspell "guard". Somehow my fingers learned to type it as gaurd, and eventually that looked right to me. I remember being embarrassingly adamant about how WRONG spellcheck was.

[Strange]

8 hours ago, Phi for All said:

Not "the trots"?

I don't think I have ever heard that used. The squits is another popular alternative.

8 hours ago, Phi for All said:

Many years ago, computer spellcheck cured me of a weird tendency to misspell "guard".

I seem to remember being surprised when spellcheck corrected "separately" for me, so presumably I had been misspelling it as "seperately" for years.

[iNow]

maintenance 

[StringJunky]

12 minutes ago, iNow said:

maintenance 

Yep, I usually start off with Maintainance before correcting.  

[koti]

2 hours ago, iNow said:

maintenance 

Weird, this is one of the easiest words to spell for me in English. I struggle with words with double l’s and double r’s in them for some reason but believe me, English is a joy to spell, I struggle far more with Polish, try: Dżdżownica (earthworm), Chrząszcz (beetle), rzeczywiście (really) or essencially any other word - its a nightmare.

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, koti said:

I struggle far more with Polish, try: Dżdżownica (earthworm), Chrząszcz (beetle), rzeczywiście (really)

Vowels are like breaths of air, so you struggle with suffocation when there are too few. I'd be gasping in a Polish spelling bee.

1 hour ago, koti said:

or essencially any other word - its a nightmare.

Essentially. 

[koti]

6 hours ago, Phi for All said:

 

Essentially. 

Oh yes, these are a problem for as well, thanks.

[Ken Fabian]

Neighbour - which is often spelt missing the "u" - always had me struggling. I use "it's" when I'm informed it's supposed to have no apostrophe - ("it's apostrophe being both wrong and superfluous"). I dig my heels in and use it anyway, in line with apostrophe as indicator of belonging to; perhaps common usage - and I'm not the only one - will end up making it correct.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Ken Fabian

[Strange]

13 minutes ago, Ken Fabian said:

I dig my heels in and use it anyway, in line with apostrophe as indicator of belonging to; perhaps common usage - and I'm not the only one - will end up making it correct.

No (other) possessive pronouns have an apostrophe. So good luck with that!

[Ken Fabian]

 

37 minutes ago, Strange said:

No (other) possessive pronouns have an apostrophe. So good luck with that!

 

Why the exception for pronouns? Anyway, usage is the final arbiter.

 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Ken Fabian

[Strange]

16 minutes ago, Ken Fabian said:

Why the exception for pronouns?

Interesting question. Because of the complex history of pronouns, I guess. Most didn't start off with an -s ending (and most still don't have one: mine, your, their, etc.). So I think "its" was a later invention and modelled on "his". 

There was a period when both -n and -s were being used as the possessive ending (as in mine, thine and non-standard yourn). And sometimes in combination (hisn).

[Strange]

Apparently, I didn't know how to spell lasso ... having just written it for the first time in my life, I guess.