ProZ.com Translation Forums

Words you can never spell | Bureaucracy

Martina Fink — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:51:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Martina Fink
Post title: Bureaucracy

"Bureaucracy" is one of mine. I feel better knowing that a few people have mentioned it already.

[quote]Fiona Peterson wrote:

I'm actually thinking of changing my name to Fioan, because that's what it normally comes out as when I'm in a hurry... :D
[/quote]

My one turns into "Martian"..... :roll:

Words you can never spell | Words ending in ट and ठ

Balasubramaniam L. — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:42:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Balasubramaniam L.
Post title: Words ending in ट and ठ

I always need to look up a dictionary for words ending in ट, as I often mis-spell them with a ठ. Examples: विशिष्ट, चेष्टा, प्रकोष्ठ, etc.

I think only North Indian languages, Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, etc. have the full set of ट letters - ट, ठ, ड, ढ. To further complicate the spelling, the last two ड and ढ have two pronunciations indicated by ड़ and ढ़.

Due to all this, words containing ट and ठ are the most troublesome for me.

Words you can never spell | Threshold

Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:20:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Post title: Threshold

It took me a while to believe 'threshold' had only one 'h'.

Words you can never spell | Het

Angelique Blommaert — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:15:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Angelique Blommaert
Post title: Het

The Dutch word for `the `is `het` (or "de" depending on the subject).

Sometimes it seems that my fingers have their own will....they refuse to type what I want! When spellchecking I have to look very carefully, because my spellchecker accepts the as a normal used word in Dutch. Got to get that out somehow though.

And basically all words involving double ll, tt etc. I get confused and have to look them up.

Using my cellphone to type is even harder...my boyfriend already accepted my thumbo's and sometimes it's a real puzzle to crack the code!

Words you can never spell | Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Trisha F — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:25:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Trisha F
Post title: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Paul,

I have created my own tutorial on the subject, using humour: [url removed] It is basically for children but adults may find it interesting. A native Welsh speaker I know seemed to like it, it sort of gives me hope.

Words you can never spell | Brain?

Brian Young — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:55:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Brian Young
Post title: Brain?

Hi Jenny
No, I don't, but a lot of people do spell my name that way. I either take it as a subconscious complement, or just ignore it.

pawl
thaenks fohr teh inturseteen lethur. ue shhud bie kahrfuwl nought tue riet ihn taeht wae tuh ofun, bekuhz it iz varee adicktuve. i haev uh frend hue lieks tue wriht thaet wae ut, nad ti kahn etg vahree tihren aftur uhwile. Bhut yue ahr vere gud aht ti. Y cn ls wt lmst nythng wtht vwls. Thy r rlly jst wst f spc.

Words you can never spell | lieutenant, liaison

Daniel Todorovski — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:31:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Daniel Todorovski
Post title: lieutenant, liaison

I had to look them up. :(

Words you can never spell | Cmmonet

Paul Dixon — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:38:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Paul Dixon
Post title: Cmmonet

Fwnilloog on form Grogee's cmmonet:

"Cna yuo raed tihs? if yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid, too.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulatcly uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Words you can never spell | It's a rum do

George Hopkins — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:30:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: George Hopkins
Post title: It's a rum do

Sepllnig is vrey ipormtnat idened. Sewdsih is mcuh eieasr tahn Eignslh.

Did I get that right?

Words you can never spell | One last thing...

Jennifer Taylor — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Jennifer Taylor
Post title: One last thing...

And then there was an unnamed Czech agency that offered poofreading on its website for far too long!

Words you can never spell | I know...

Jennifer Taylor — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:11:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Jennifer Taylor
Post title: I know...

[quote]Brian Young wrote:

Hi Jenny
It was not you I was thinking about. You pointed out the problem in the first place, and we all make errors and typos. But a lot of people do not know that there is a difference. My most common typo is "Dainsh", and it drives me crazy. [/quote]

I realised that, Brian. I was just standing up for people like me who do it too! :)

PS Out of curiosity, do you ever type your name Brain? :)

Words you can never spell | Two of my favorites

philgoddard — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:48:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: philgoddard
Post title: Two of my favorites

"Miniscule" gets 1.4 million hits on Google
"Dessicated" gets 214,000.

They're both misspellings.

Words you can never spell | Me too!

Christine Andersen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:05:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Christine Andersen
Post title: Me too!

[quote]Cindy Chadd wrote:

I can never remember the British spelling of "maneuver". I have to look it up every single time. [/quote]

Amazing how often it actually turns up.

And hi, Fioan, greetings from Chrisitne :-D

Brian's Dainsh is a new one - but I reglarly write Dansih... The language spoken in Demnark of course.

Why is it that whenever I am mailing to accept an offer of a proofreading job, my fingers go completely mad? I wonder if anyone would dare trust a proofreader who can´t even spell her own name?

I have the spell checker firmly ON for Danish mails, and do my best to check English myself, or compose them where there is a spell checker available, then paste them into the mail.

And BTW you can add things to AutoCorrect in Word (it doubles my typing speed effctively). Things like fo r, nad, teh, htan, hwne and many others miraculously sort themselves out as soon as you hit the space bar.

It also works with names - add the name as the correct version and a typable abbreviation as the trigger, and you then know the spelling is correct every time as you proofread. I have regular clients abbreviated as rc, cc and similar. It also saves hitting the CAPS LOCK by mistake....

I can actually spell, as long as I am allowed to write things with a pen or pencil. It´s these pesky machines that cause all the trouble.

:-) :-) :-)

Words you can never spell | scheptical...

David Russi — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:41:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: David Russi
Post title: scheptical...

or is it sceptical? (both sceptical and skeptical are correct)

Words you can never spell | Etymology

Susan Nacey — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:35:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Susan Nacey
Post title: Etymology

And the adjective etymological. I also inevitably pronounce them wrong: entomology and entomological.

Words you can never spell | Langwij bodi sez wee shood chainj Inglish speling

Martyn Greenan — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:31:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Martyn Greenan
Post title: Langwij bodi sez wee shood chainj Inglish speling

[url removed]

Words you can never spell | Spelling

Paul Dixon — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:33:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Paul Dixon
Post title: Spelling

I have always been a good speller, and I remember that at school I was the only one who could spell "neighbour" correctly.

My problem is usually with unusual words like "homoeopathy" and "phthisic" (or is it "phthysic"?)

One word I never spell right is LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH. I always miss out the first R in the CHWYRNDROBWLL part.

If you want to know what it means, check it out at: [url removed]

If you want to have a go at saying it, there is a tutorial at:

[url removed]

Words you can never spell | Another vote for the thing those bureaucrats do

Kaiya J. Diannen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:49:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Kaiya J. Diannen
Post title: Another vote for the thing those bureaucrats do

I don't think I have managed to spell bureaucracy correctly (without looking it up/Googling it) since I was in school (it sounds like it must have an "o" in it!).

Although answering this thread may have actually just let me develop my "cheat": For some reason I didn't actually have a problem typing bureaucrat (and I don't generally have a problem with bureau)... so from now on, I'll concentrate only on the root word while I'm typing it out - and no "o"!

Yay, thanks to this thread, I may have beat my one big spelling demon! :)

Words you can never spell | you know

Brian Young — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:17:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Brian Young
Post title: you know

Hi Jenny
It was not you I was thinking about. You pointed out the problem in the first place, and we all make errors and typos. But a lot of people do not know that there is a difference. My most common typo is "Dainsh", and it drives me crazy.

Words you can never spell | They're, their and there

Jennifer Taylor — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:59:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Jennifer Taylor
Post title: They're, their and there

[quote]Brian Young wrote:

I think that many adults have problems with "they're, their and there" for the same reason that they have problems adding or dividing fractions. Education has gone way down in quality, and it is a huge problem over here in the USA. I don't blame teachers, it is a complicated thing, way beyond this forum. So it is not just an isolated language problem. [/quote]

I forgot to say, in response to this, that although I know full well when they're, their and there are used, and it annoys me when other people get it wrong, I have to double check that I've typed the right one. So for me at least, it's not about educational quality.

Words you can never spell | Words I can never type...

Jennifer Taylor — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:56:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Jennifer Taylor
Post title: Words I can never type...

I have a problem with the word 'tariff'. I had to re-type it just now!

I also have problems typing 'comparison' and 'activities'. When I am typing fast, I always write comparision and activites. It's like my fingers are typing patterns they're more used to!

I've spelt 'privilege' right since getting it wrong in my TEFL spelling test 10 years ago. And my dad recently told me that he remembered 'principal' is a person because it has the word 'pal' at the end!

Words you can never spell | privile(d)ge

Cilian O'Tuama — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 01:49:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Cilian O'Tuama
Post title: privile(d)ge

is the most everyday word I'm never sure about and have to look up most often, not because my fingers are too fast or uncoordinated, but because I'm too stoopid to remember the correct spelling. Caribbean and reminiscent are a close second. There's another that escapes me at the mo. I know there is. Damn it.

Words you can never spell | principals vs principles

Bryan Crumpler — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Bryan Crumpler
Post title: principals vs principles

I'm also a musician and always seem to be thinking of one over the other... this one gets me all the time.

Words you can never spell | liason and mischievious

Ildiko Santana — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:43:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Ildiko Santana
Post title: liason and mischievious

They get me every time. If they happen to be in the same text, I can just move that naughty "i"... ;)

Words you can never spell | diarrhoea

XXXphxxx (X) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:04:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: XXXphxxx (X)
Post title: diarrhoea

sorry to lower the tone! ;-)

Words you can never spell | NMR

Noni Gilbert Riley — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Noni Gilbert Riley
Post title: NMR

[quote]NMR wrote:

I know how to spell it, but I cannot get it out of the keyboard :-) right hand keeps twisting. [/quote]

Oh yes - you see, a lot of the reapirs I tranlsate about are done on vehcile aluminim bodywrok prats.

Words you can never spell | Then there are US-UK differences

Jack Doughty — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:22:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Jack Doughty
Post title: Then there are US-UK differences

Of the words mentioned in this topic, Amy's experiences with diarrhea would be even worse here, where it is spelt diarrhoea. NMR's aluminium is aluminum in the USA.
And David's instinctive preference for judgement over judgment would be correct here, except in archaic English such as that of the King James Bible.

Words you can never spell | bizarre and manoeuvre

Marie-Hélène Hayles — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:20:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Marie-Hélène Hayles
Post title: bizarre and manoeuvre

I make lots of standard typos, of course, which are now autocorrected by Word, but these are the two I don't actually know how to spell. In fact I had to Google [i]manoeuvre[/i] to check the spelling - I can never remember where that first [i]e[/i] should go. I seem to be making progress with [i]bizarre[/i], though, although it still looks wrong however I type it.

[Edited at 2010-04-23 07:21 GMT]

Words you can never spell | Waistband

Gail Bond — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:18:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Gail Bond
Post title: Waistband

It's waistband that gives me trouble. My brain knows exactly how to spell it, but my fingers insist on typing wasitband... I don't know why, but that always sounds a bit rude :-)

Words you can never spell | Native English speakers often spell my name...

Tsogt Gombosuren — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:17:00 +0000

Forum: Off topic
Topic: Words you can never spell
Poster: Tsogt Gombosuren
Post title: Native English speakers often spell my name...

as Tsgot. May be, it is more convenient for them to write "got" than to write "ogt". :)