Daily Dose of Common Sense

The Oatmeal has done a great comic of the top 10 words you need to stop misspelling. Some of these include “there, they’re, their” and the ever-popular “definitely”, which is illustrated below. Follow the link for the entire list and illustrations. It’s worth it.

[Thanks to Laurie T. for the link!]

I just stumbled upon a site called The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. It’s a crusade against all those quotes you see that are either redundant, ridiculous, bad grammar, or all of the above.

For example, here’s a photo from the site:








































I know most of these misquoters are using the quotes for emphasis. But, it’s still wrong. And annoying. (I guess no one remembers the underline anymore. We should wage a campaign to Bring Back the Underline!) Just for the record, here is when you would correctly use quotation marks:

The primary function of quotation marks is to set off and represent exact language (either spoken or written) that has come from somebody else.

And, don’t even get us started on air quotes.

It may be three events, but that doesn’t mean it gets an unnecessary extra syllable. Many people pronounce this “tri-ath-a-lon.” However, there’s no extra “a” in there (as in “marathon”). It should just be pronounced as, “tri-ath-lon.”

You may not ever participate in one, but you should know how to pronounce it.

Photo

The English language has a LOT of words. Sometimes it’s hard to remember the meanings to all of them. In fact, I recently misused the word “nonplussed” and a friend called me out on it. I looked it up, and sure enough, I had used it incorrectly.

In my research, I came across a great list on Cracked.com. It’s the 9 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think. One word that makes the list is “ironic,” which really means “an outcome that is the opposite of what you’d expect.” Another one is “pristine,” which means “ancient, primeval; in a state virtually unchanged from the original.”

Check out the list for other great examples, plus a “dick rating” for correcting people. (Glad I got to work in the word “dick” in this post.)

Any words on this list that you also have misused?

Photo courtesy of Flickr: SarahB-

People often mispronounce the word for someone who sells property. It’s spelled “realtor,” which should be said as “real-tor.” However, a lot of people (and I mean a lot) say “real-a-tor.” Well, that’s wrong.

There’s no extra “a” in the middle of the word. It’s not a three-syllable word, just two. You would never say “realaty” for “realty.”

I don’t know where this pronunciation started, and I hear it all the time. But, one blog post at a time, we can change the world. (Won’t someone think of the children?! The children!!)

We’ve pretty much avoided commenting on the whole Jon & Kate train wreck. But, even we can’t resist this one. This photo is from the New York Post:

Yes, “penalty” is misspelled. And, apparently, he can’t spell his own name either. Now, I’m pretty sure Jon himself didn’t type this out. But, whoever did doesn’t know how to use spellcheck.

Egg, meet face. Face, egg.

People memorize many sayings in order to learn how to spell. Perhaps none are as well known as the ditty “i before e except after c.” This past week, the British government took steps to phase out this rule because they believe it is too confusing. A letter sent to thousands of primary schools said there are so many exceptions to this rule that it is “not worth teaching.”

“There are so few words where the ei spelling for the ee sounds follows the letter c that it is easier to learn the specific words.” These include receive, ceiling, perceive and deceit.

Yes, there are a lot of exemptions to this rule. But, I still find myself repeating it every now and again when writing without spell check on. The phrase is easy to remember and sticks with you. And, it’s frequently correct.

The other simple spelling rules just don’t have the same kind of zing. “Dropping Final E.” Yawn. “Doubling Final Consonants.” Snooze. “I before e” is the rock star of the group. It’s the one most people remember twenty years down the line.

The last thing we need is to make spelling more difficult. It’s already complicated enough. What’s next? Closing down Conjunction Junction?!

The word “irregardless” is a nuisance. Yes, some dictionaries do list the word. But, it is categorized as “nonstandard,” which means it’s not a proper term. All you need is the word “regardless.”

Why? Regardless already means “without regard.” Using the prefix “-ir” is redundant.

The prefix ir- (i-r) is a negative prefix, so if you add the prefix ir to a word that’s already negative like regardless, you’re making a double-negative word that literally means “without without regard.”

Some common phrases get repeated so often that we don’t even question the meaning. One hears it, assumes it’s correct and then repeats it. A good example of this is, “I could care less.” Well, if you could care less, then I guess it really doesn’t bother you.

Rather, the correct phrase is, “I couldn’t care less.” You are saying you could not care less about something. That means you care the littlest amount that you can possibly care. As in, “I couldn’t care less whether you like my work.”