Hardest common words for you to spell

[pinball1970]

As a kid I remember getting these words wrong and I still have to think about the first.
“Necessary, similarly , separately.”

“Colleague” I miss out the u sometimes

“Guard” more recently and also “their”

I am pretty certain I was ok with those words years ago

I have a co-worker called Gaurav and I wonder if that has confused my GUA/GAU combinations.

Why “their” after this time?

The “I before e except after c rule,” has got be one of the most inaccurate sayings in the English language.

 

[PeroK]

The “I before e except after c rule,” has got be one of the most inaccurate sayings in the English language.

Better is: i before e, except after c, but only when the sound is like ee, and not if it's a chemical (protein etc.) and not if it's seize or weird.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Better is: i before e, except after c, but only when the sound is like ee, and not if it's a chemical (protein etc.) and not if it's seize or weird.

As you say, the "ee" sound is enough to make it cover most cases. The version I learned was:

When "I" and "E" together say "ee"
It's "I" before "E" except after "C".

I agree that "seize" is an anomaly, and also chemical terms such as caffeine and protein. I guess I pronounce "weird" (and "weir") weirdly, in that I don't count that as an "ee" sound, more a "ee-er" sound from "we-ir".

 

[fresh_42]

... and to make it even more complicated for us foreigners, you chose to pronounce either and either differently ...

 

[pinball1970]

Better is: i before e, except after c, but only when the sound is like ee, and not if it's a chemical (protein etc.) and not if it's seize or weird.

Or Science….https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_not_following_the_I_before_E_except_after_C_rule

I am not sure what an aatheist is, is that just a theist? Or someone who does not think atheists exist?

 

[sysprog]

The “I before e except after c rule,” has got be one of the most inaccurate sayings in the English language.

Here's an article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_E_except_after_C

 

[DaveC426913]

 

[DaveC426913]

 

[DaveC426913]

Things that come to me while I'm trying to fall asleep:

Is there a word for that noise that get's a horse to walk?
How do you spell the noise?
"Tktk"?

 

[BillTre]

Is there a word for that noise that get's a horse to walk?

There probably is, in the field of what sounds people make (maybe linguistics, or neuro-linguistics, speech and hearing, something else?).
There are names for particular electromagnetic signals (calls) put out by actively electro-sensitive fish.
They are converted to audio from what electrodes pick up in the water.
It is a "sound" that no one can hear (as the fish could), and it has a name.

There will often be a specialist who came up with names of things that no one else would even think about.

 

[hmmm27]

tch ?

 

[DaveC426913]

tch ?

Mm. "tch" is what Andy Capp's wife said a lot.
That's a sound of derision.
It's the sound of "ts" but sucking in over the teeth rather than blowing out.

This is a summons, like clicking with your tongue on your molars.

 

[jack action]

Is there a word for that noise that get's a horse to walk?

It is a cluck or a click (listen to the audio file for the distinction). This one talks about cluck & kisses. Merriam-Webster seems to prefer cluck. (see example: The driver clucked at the horses to get them moving.)

 

[DaveC426913]

It is a cluck or a click (listen to the audio file for the distinction). This one talks about cluck & kisses. Merriam-Webster seems to prefer cluck. (see example: The driver clucked at the horses to get them moving.)

Yeah, I wondered about 'cluck'. But the click sound in that audio is actually the sound I meant.

So, the sound is called a click, but that is not how it is pronounced. 'Click' is not onomatopoeiac.

I don't think the phoneme actually has a spelling that evokes the sound. I wonder how many phonemes there are like that...

 

[jack action]

How do you spell the noise?

tsk? Or the big reference on the web comes from the book "Misoso: Once Upon a Time Tales from Africa", by Verna Aardema who uses tlick. Though, I think it is to define the clicking sound heard in some African languages.

 

[pinball1970]

tsk? Or the big reference on the web comes from the book "Misoso: Once Upon a Time Tales from Africa", by Verna Aardema who uses tlick. Though, I think it is to define the clicking sound heard in some African languages.

What about G-up or Giddy-up?

 

[Mark44]

"Dining" as in "dining room". I often spell it "dinning" and the spell checkers don't object.

The double consonant after an i vowel usually changes the vowel's sound, and similar for some other vowels, although I can't think of any examples.

So slimer (think Ghostbusters) would be pronounced differently from slimmer -- long i in the first, and short i in the second. Another example would be griper vs. gripper, or miler vs. miller.

 

[sysprog]

The double consonant after an i vowel usually changes the vowel's sound, and similar for some other vowels, although I can't think of any examples.

An example would be 'below' and 'bellow'. Also 'folic' and 'follow'.

 

[Hornbein]

lieutenant

 

[Astronuc]

TIL, cleidoic meaning of an egg. : enclosed in a relatively impervious shell which reduces free exchange with the environment. The eggs of birds are cleidoic.

 

[Mark44]

lieutenant

Not so hard if you understand the origin...

from Old French lieu tenant "substitute, deputy," literally "place holder" (14c.), from lieu "place" (see lieu) + tenant, present participle of tenir "to hold,"

 

[Hornbein]

Not so hard if you understand the origin...

So a lieutenant is a substitute for a leader.

 

[sysprog]

So a lieutenant is a substitute for a leader.

In the Army, not only a Lieutenant, but a Sergeant or a Corporal or a Private First Class, can and should, if he's of the highest rank still alive, take command on the field of battle.

 

[DaveC426913]

In the Army, not only a Lieutenant, but a Sergeant or a Corporal or a Private First Class, can and should, if he's of the highest rank still alive, take command on the field of battle.

Maybe so, but thanks to Mark44 and his mnemonic, I will never again not know how to spell lieutenant.

(Now if only there were a mnemonic for spelling lieu...

 

[Mark44]

Maybe so, but thanks to Mark44 and his mnemonic, I will never again not know how to spell lieutenant.

It wasn't a mnemonic -- what I gave was the etymology.

(Now if only there were a mnemonic for spelling lieu...

Isn't French one of the two main languages where you are? Lieu is a French word that's now part of English.

 

[DaveC426913]

It wasn't a mnemonic -- what I gave was the etymology.

Fair enough. I'm using it as a mnemonic.

Isn't French one of the two main languages where you are? Lieu is a French word that's now part of English.

Why would you think I'm any better at spelling in French than in English?

 

[gmax137]

So a lieutenant is a substitute for a leader.

Right, like when you see "Lieutenant Governor"

 

[sbrothy]

There are some words even though not really difficult often require me to spell check in Google. For me it's "maintenance", "ecstasy", "conscience", "entrepreneur", "unnecessary".

"Necessary" is a problem child of mine. But then again English is my second language. (Which doesn't prevent me from beating the natives in scrabble. I don't know who(m?) that says most about? Probably the small weird (weird small?) 2-3 letter words no one ever use(s?).