Impromptus today has plenty of serious stuff (though not my ranting about teachers’ unions, I’m happy to tell you). And also some lighter stuff. Like misspellings and names. (I mean, those two issues considered separately.)
I talk about two very commonly misspelled words: “desiccate” and “millennium.” (“Accommodate” is another biggie. There are many biggies — I have covered a lot of them in Impromptus, over the years.) A reader now writes,
“My wife and I live on Cemetery Road. No one, it seems, can spell the word. In fact, I’m repeatedly corrected to ‘Cemetary’ by companies and websites, including MapQuest. I can’t get directions unless I type in the wrong spelling!”
Funny. You know what’s another commonly misspelled word? “Misspell,” “misspelling,” etc. People want to drop an “s.”
Also want to tell you that a reader has just sent in a great name. Reading the business pages, she spotted the name of an Accenture executive: Rockwell Bonecutter. A powerhouse of a name, for sure. All I can say is, if your name is Rockwell Bonecutter, you’d better be damn tough.
Years ago I interviewed for a job with Harcourt, which was introducing a spellcheck program (yes, this story is straight from the WaaayBack Machine).
I didn't get the gig, but I had the satisfaction of pointing out that their sales brochure cover for the spellchecker misspelled "cemetery".
(One of my high school teachers told us the menemonic for spelling it correctly: think of tombstones, all with a big letter E perched on their tops. Works every time.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAlas, I mis-typed "mnemonic"!!!!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCall on me!!! Call on me!!! I can spell cemetery.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd then there are the mispronunciations due to reading words without the benefit of hearing them spoken. In second grade, I learned that 'ue' is pronounced 'oo', as in Tuesday. So one of the first books I read myself was about the 'Pooblo' (Pueblo) Indians.
And for quite some time a couple years later I thought 'misled' was pronounced 'meye-zeld.'
During one high school speech I referred to the Viennese father of psychoanalysis Sigmund 'Frood.' And then let a 'Froodian slip' slip out and closed the speech with the death in 1962 of the German writer Hermann Hesse of a cerebral hemorrhoid, er, hemorrhage.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't think texting technology helps matters.
I am always dumbfounded when I encounter misuse of "its/it's", "there/their/they're", and extraneous apostrophes when attempting to make a word plural...especially in corporate emails.
Some very nice lady left the company recently and wrote a good-bye email to 600 people or so. She signed it "Respectably yours,". Ouch.
I read a lot of James Taranto, so I know I've got little room to complain when compared to the likes of him...an apparent grammar ace.
Not spelling, but one of my favorite cheesesteak shops recently had the glass door art redone. Dude was proud of it. It hurt me to mention to him that the painted store hours indicated that he closed at noon on Saturdays, not midnight. Oops. What a difference a single letter makes. :)
I used to butcher the name Geoff when I was younger. It was in some book I was read and it became "gee-OFF" in my head - stayed that way for years...heh.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTough? Perhaps.. - I would submit that when ones last name is "Bonecutter", its vitally important to have a sense of humor more than anything. However, the great thing about being named Rockwell Bonecutter is the free press.
Regards,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRockwell Bonecutter