Words that should be spelt differently.

[Mumby Magic]

I have an English A Level but have been spelling this word wrong for years as I cant understand the way it is spelt.

Maintenance. Ive always spelt maintainance as in to maintain something.

Im sure theres loads.

[Wolford6]

necessary

receipt

Filipino, Philip  and the Philippines

odour and odorous

[Futtocks]

There was something on Twitter the other day, opining that zoology should really be spelt zooology. Think on it for a second...

[Wholly Trinity]

I always thought misled and defy are a little undercooked letter-wise. 

'Differently' is always spelt differently - I've already got my coat on. 

[Hammerless Nail]

I've always thought that if "you're" was spelt "your", "they're" and "their" spelt "there", and "have" spelt "of", and if every word that ended with the letter 's' had an apostrophe, then literacy rates in this country would be drastically improved.

[Futtocks]

2 minutes ago, Hammerless Nail said:

I've always thought that if "you're" was spelt "your", "they're" and "their" spelt "there", and "have" spelt "of", and if every word that ended with the letter 's' had an apostrophe, then literacy rates in this country would be drastically improved.

By the way, thank you for inventing the internet, Mr Berners-Lee.

[silverback]

One that gets me is when someone mentions they have just been and brought a car.or they have just brought a new telly ,not bought a car or a telly. if you have brought something its like you bringing something somewere.

[Kayakman]

As someone who has graded spelling for a LONG time the one that gets me is that some students constantly misspell woman/women.  Many do not comprehend that woman is singular and women plural...seems clear to me.

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Futtocks said:

By the way, thank you for inventing the internet, Mr Berners-Lee.

The web, the web! 

[ckn]

Learnt is just wrong. As in lessons learnt. It should be learned and damn those who say learned (learn-ed) is something else.

[Wholly Trinity]

53 minutes ago, ckn said:

Learnt is just wrong. As in lessons learnt. It should be learned and damn those who say learned (learn-ed) is something else.

...but spelt is OK? 

Built?

What about the Cadiffian boilt?  As in a boilt egg.

Surely, learn-ed is the adjectival pronunciation? 

 

[Kayakman]

OK here is one for ya:  How is it spelt; practice or practise?

Ahhh...the pain...I had better get out and practise more.  Gets them every time.

[YCKonstantine]

I will never not read epitome "eppy-toam" so it should be changed I reckon.

[Wholly Trinity]

2 hours ago, Kayakman said:

OK here is one for ya:  How is it spelt; practice or practise?

Ahhh...the pain...I had better get out and practise more.  Gets them every time.

Being too close to the US is possibly the issue.

They always spell license with an s and practice with a c ???

Whereas in correct English, you follow the pattern of advice (n) and advise (v).

practice (n)

practise (v)

licence (n)

license (v)

More nuanced is:

affect (usually verb)

effect (usually noun)

[Wolford6]

When you look up a word, it comes with phonetic guideline marks as to how you should pronounce it. I'll bet 99% of the country, including me, don't know what  those guidance marks sound like.

 

indistinguishable

/ɪndɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃəb(ə)l/

[JohnM]

9 hours ago, Futtocks said:

By the way, thank you for inventing the internet, Mr Berners-Lee.

The web, the web! 

[JohnM]

Hang on, I'll just ask my co-worker. Oh, he busy talking to a colleague, whatever that is.Turns out he comes from Seven-o-aks. 

[Bearman]

Judging by the posts on these forums "lose" is somewhat problematic.

[tim2]

Queue. Should be just Q.

Ironically there's a line of letters waiting to be used....

[Shadow]

9 hours ago, Wholly Trinity said:

...but spelt is OK? 

No, it makes flour for pretentious middle class allergy martyrs that in turn makes bread with the taste and consistency of chipboard.

[DavidM]

I get bugged by how AMERICA spells or says words and how they dumb things down , well for Americans ... Tyre not tire , through as thru , I mean really . Bank check . Aluminum . Back to normalcy , is that even a word ? No ‘ u’ in words like colour 

[Kayakman]

27 minutes ago, DavidM said:

I get bugged by how AMERICA spells or says words and how they dumb things down , well for Americans ... Tyre not tire , through as thru , I mean really . Bank check . Aluminum . Back to normalcy , is that even a word ? No ‘ u’ in words like colour 

The English language is alive and living, modifications between the three forms of English (England, America and Canadian) are all Okay and we should not get too hung up on it.

[DavidM]

7 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

The English language is alive and living, modifications between the three forms of English (England, America and Canadian) are all Okay and we should not get too hung up on it.

Boo . Stop being all reasonable . I’m english , I rant at Americans who mess up our language , so there !

[Shadow]

11 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Boo . Stop being all reasonable . I’m english , I rant at Americans who mess up our language , so there !

Be very careful, if you can believe Susie Dent (and I'll fight any man here that doubts Susie) many of these supposed Americansiations of English words are in fact the older, traditional English spellings that we have moved away from. Aluminum / Aluminium being a case in point. 

You could maintain accuracy and stil rant at our former Colonial friends for not moving with the times and having a language stuck in the past alongside their outdated measuring systems. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

46 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Boo . Stop being all reasonable . I’m english , I rant at Americans who mess up our language , so there !

Common mistake here.

The truth is we Frenchified our language while they maintained the original spellings of certain words.