Misspellings and What We Do Wrong Regularly

I volunteered to teach a Vietnamese woman English. Every Wednesday for the past 2 years, we’ve met at the library and worked our way through new words, new idioms, and proper spelling. She gets the spelling part very well. Too bad we Americans don’t.

We’re kind of lazy when it comes to spelling. Sure, English is loaded with words from all sorts of cultures and languages, and our rules are enough to drive anyone batty. But we misspell things all the time. All of us – writers, executives (you guys are the worst because no one has the courage to correct you), teachers, etc.

Here are a few words I’ve seen misspelled (and in some seriously odd places) just this week:

Decribes. I know what they meant, but the Spell Check wasn’t used that day. (This was found in a legal notice sent by my car maker)

Independant. This one’s a common mistake. Here’s how I remember: it’s independENT because ANTs group together. Independents work alone. 😉

Harrass. You didn’t harass me until you used one too many Rs.

Ommission. Another easy-to-remember fix. If you omit one of the Ms, it spells what it is – an omission.

Sintillating. There’s no point in using big words if you’re going to misspell them. Here’s how to remember the C: It’s scintillating to see you use the C…. (okay, a stretch, but you’re going to remember it now, aren’t you?)

Any misspellings you’ve come across recently?