The first thing I do every morning minutes after I wake up is check to see if Susan Leigh Babcock has proofed my blog post. She normally wakes up around 5am so my copy gets corrected long before you read it. She always sends me the edited and unedited versions so I can see the errors of my ways.
I get real upset when I check my copy and see that the iPhone auto-correct changed some of my words. I always check my copy but somehow I don’t seem to catch those words. I am convinced that the words were right when I typed them but somehow auto correct snuck in and changed them again after I published.
My friend Steve frequently tells me that PR people in a hurry will often send him an email saying “photo shit” instead of “photo shot.” When I see Steve in person he will lean over and whisper “I got three shits today” or “Four shits.” For a long tine, I thought he was talking about his bathroom habits.
Mashable, the tech site, just published a list of words often misspelled.
1-Misspelled: seperate
Correct: separate
Tip: There’s a rat in sep-a-rate.
2-Misspelled: definate
Correct: definite
Tip: Take a close look at the final syllable: nite.
3-Misspelled: calender
Correct: calendar
Tip: You probably pronounce the last syllable as [er], so you have to think [ar] as you write it: cal-en-dar.
4-Misspelled: mispell
Correct: misspell
Tip: You know how to spell spell; add the prefix mis- to it: mis-spell.
5-Misspelled: privlege
Correct: privilege
Tip: You might be pronouncing this three-syllable word with only two syllables. Notice the second i: priv-i-lege. Another common misspelling is privilige. Note the e in the final syllable: priv-i-lege.
6-Misspelled: arguement
Correct: argument
Tip: The verb argue ends in e, but you must drop the e for ar-gu-ment.
7-Misspelled: concensus
Correct: consensus
Tip: The sensus in consensus has nothing to do with the word census. Our word census comes from Latin censare, “to rate, assess.” Consensus comes from Latin consensus, “agreement, accord, sympathy, common feeling.” Think SSS: Con-Sen-SuS.
8-Misspelled: pronounciation
Correct: pronunciation
Tip: There’s no “ounce” in pronunciation, but there is a “nun.” The verb is pronounce; the noun is pro-nun-ci-a-tion.
9-Misspelled: accomodate
Correct: accommodate
Tip: Two sets of double letters, cc and mm: accommodate
10-Misspelled: dependant
Correct: dependent
Tip: People who misspell this one may be thinking ofdefendant, which does end in -ant (although the -ant in defendant is also pronounced [ent].) Note the final syllable in dependent: de-pen-dENT.
