Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Wensday..

There are a pile of words that I misspelt well into early adulthood. Wednesday was one, I'm not even sure now how I spelt it then, but something like above. Wiclow was another. Until a few years back ago I used to use "I'ld" instead of "I'd". These hidden particles of shame can creep up on you at any time.

7 comments:

  1. I'm correcting Mock exams at the mo, Milan: Trust me, you're not alone.

    I had a lovely friend called Peter who took me down a peg once when I worrected him by pointing out htat there's only one 'm' in 'amount'. I still go to spell it wrong, and think of him every time I correct myself. I have no idea where he is now and I'm blanking on his last name. Get in touch, Peter, if you're reading :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. For as long as I can remember the difference between affect and effect has driven me mad. I know I spend time going back and rereading something I've written if I happen to use homophones (immature giggle, fun word that). The transitive verb accept is anchored on the letter ``a'', while the preposition or conjuction except gives all hints off its leading ``e''.

    All of this low-level analysis does jack shit in my day-to-day attempt to control this silly, silly habit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. But they're not homophones, are they? The pronunciation is different, isn't it?

    Still, you and every student in this country - accept is a verb. Is except a preposition?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think for many people, some words have nearly identical pronunciations. The sound can't always affect how you're giving words a certain effect: the principle behind your principal reason is based on your appetite not extending to apatite. Thus two truths become self-evident: your deep perineal nerve is far from the common peroneal nerve down in your leg, and the mucous membrane itself secrets mucus.

    Pant, pant, pant.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a life long mental block on affect/effect and receive/recieve. It's a problem.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can handle a/effect but principle/principal I always mix up without even realising. I find if you have an either/or dilemma, I never remember which is which.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Easy - from one of the Ramona books - her sister tells her you can always remember a school principal is your pal.

    ReplyDelete

Sitemeter