Is there a word you habitually misspell even though you know how to spell it?

@dragon54u (31636)
United States
April 25, 2009 10:18am CST
This drives me nuts (and it's a pretty short drive)! I KNOW how to spell "window" and have spelled it correctly all my life. However, the past 6 months or so when I type "window" it nearly always comes out "winder". My relatives in Kentucky used to say "winder" or "winda" when referring to those small openings in the wall that let the fresh air in. Maybe I'm subconsciously remembering them and imitating their pronunciation? Is there a word that just doesn't come out right when you type it, one you make a mistake on again and again even though you know how to spell it? My fingers, I guess, have a mind of their own!
14 people like this
58 responses
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
25 Apr 09
I wish I could say no, but with my brain being so "foggy" from fibromyalgia (and Heaven knows what else), I'm misspelling more and more words. If you want to call that "habitually misspelling", then yep, I do it... now. As for one specific word, I'm not sure. I haven't been keeping track or my poor brain doesn't remember. I JUST responded to another discussion and saw that I had misspelled "berserk" and wrote "or" instead of "for", but I don't think there's any specific words I constantly misspell. I once chatted with a fella who constantly typed "wont" for "want". He was from Georgia and had an exceptionally strong southern drawl and spoke the word like "wont" so I assume that he naturally thought the word was spelled that way. But, being a typesetter and proofreader for so many years, I naturally had to know how to spell, read and type words correctly. If I didn't know them, I had to look them up. Even now, with my brain problems, I KNOW the word is wrong if I spell it wrong, but have to re-read what I type to know that I've misspelled it. My fingers used to have little brains of their own and almost always spelled words correctly, but even my little fingers' brains have gone on permanent vacation. (Oh, and yes, I know I spelled "fellow" as "fella" but that was intentional.)
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
25 Apr 09
My fingers are beginning to get Alzheimer's, I think, so I know what you mean. I can usually tell right away when I misspell a word because, like you, I've never had trouble with spelling before. Maybe we should take our poor fingers to a salon for a little pampering!
1 person likes this
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
25 Apr 09
I LOVE that idea! They could also work on the rest of our bodies while they're at it!
1 person likes this
@cyrus123 (6363)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I'll be glad to do them for you, lol. I used to work as a nail tech. I'm just kidding. I don't have my license any more. I never did renew it and I would have to go back to school to be recertified. I didn't mean to get off the subject but I was always good in spelling. I tend misspell the words "niece" and "recieve". I never can remember whether the "i" comes before the "e". I remember missing the word "recieve" in school one time. It wasn't just me, either. Several others missed it in the class, too. Like youall, I tend to misspell words unintentionally when I'm tired. A lot of times when I'm tired, I don't have much to say. I always reread my posts before I submit them. Kathy.
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
27 Apr 09
There are several words that I frequently misspell. I believe that the most common one is niece. I have a problem remembering which comes first, the i or the e. Even when I spell it correctly, it looks wrong to me. I know what you mean about Kentucky speech. My mother was born there but left with her parents at an early age, and I married a man from Kentucky. My fingers do really have a mind of their own. Due to arthritis, I have a crooked forefinger. That finger loves the letter j and frequently deposits it in the middle of a word for no apparent reason, other than its love of the letter.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I love your anecdote about your index finger! If you have to have something painful like arthritis, might as well laugh about it. I sometimes have trouble with "niece", too, although I have no idea why!
1 person likes this
@cyrus123 (6363)
• United States
27 Apr 09
My mother's two little fingers were crooked. She was born with hers that way, though. My sister who is nine years older than I am inherited them. Her youngest daughter also has them. My brother also has them. I didn't mean to get off the subject b ut I thought I would throw this in. Kathy.
1 person likes this
@GreenMoo (11834)
2 May 09
I seem to have a bit of problem with spelling my own first name at the moment! I DO know how to spell it, promise, but my fingers and brain don't seem to be communicate well right now.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
3 May 09
I wrote my maiden name yesterday instead of my married name, I felt so silly. I'm divorced but I keep my married name so my sons and I will have to same name. I've written my married name for 22 years and yet every so often my fingers want to live in the past!
1 person likes this
@jdyrj777 (6530)
• United States
26 Apr 09
Yes, i do. I often invert letter. Such as point becomes piont or that becomes taht. Things like that. I do not know how to type i use my two index fingers. Somtimes one becomes a little faster than the other.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
26 Apr 09
I type "taht" sometimes, too, and I'm a very fast touch typer. You should take advantage of the free typing courses you can find on the internet. Think of how much faster you could myLot!!
1 person likes this
@longgee (137)
• Philippines
25 Apr 09
Actually, i do have some words that i habitually misspell like the word "receive". I habitually intechange the "e" and "i" and sometimes looks like this "recieve". I fell ashamed sometimes when I misspell it lol
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
25 Apr 09
Sometimes I'll do that one but I remember the old rhyme "i after e except after c, or if pronounced "a" as in neighbor and weigh".
1 person likes this
• Australia
26 Apr 09
I always though the rhyme was i before e except after c. Because in receive the i is not before the e because it is after c.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Apr 09
Umm I would have to say all of them lol. Sometimes when I get really sleepy I can't spell worth a flip and they a get screwed up lol.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
25 Apr 09
Ha! We do tend to push ourselves for just a few more minutes on the computer.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Apr 09
Yes that is very true but i Tend to be on the computer all the time lol.
1 person likes this
@kellys3ps (3723)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I tend to have a hard time spelling sincerely
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I used to have problems with that word until my high school typing teacher told me to pronounce it correctly as "sin-seer-eh-lee" instead of "sin-seer-lee". Once it was in my head with the right pronunciation I stopped misspelling it!
1 person likes this
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
29 Apr 09
For me it would be but for put. I have caught myself, a number of times, keying a "b" when I should key a "p".
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
29 Apr 09
That would be really funny--think of the possibilities! "I but my coat on", "I but the hat away"
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
27 Apr 09
"My fingers, I guess, have a mind of their own!" Don't they just! I never manage to type anything without correcting it. My typing is quite dyslexic. I generally make a mistake with words light catch or watch and usually misspell them, thank goodness for spell check!
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Spell Check is wonderful! When I'm writing an article and the ideas are flowing, it doesn't catch me much but when I type up things here on myLot it certainly has a fit!
1 person likes this
• Philippines
27 Apr 09
uhmm.. me? I always misspell the word okay as ok specially when I'm texting. LOL!
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I think it should be spelled "ok" because that's how it is pronounced. But English has some very silly rules sometimes.
1 person likes this
• China
27 Apr 09
I think there is always different words misspelled by different people habitually. Everyone has his own insensitive words. To me, they are 'believe' or 'receive', and so on. Maybe it's also a intereting thing beyond writting words.
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Reading through this discussion, many people have trouble with "believe" and "receive" so you have plenty of company!
1 person likes this
@csrobins (1120)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I misspelled the word people for the longest time. I thought it was "peaple" until college no lie. I am a really great speller too but certain words must have stuck in my head wrong when I was learning phonics and never was corrected. When I type I always have certain words I never fail to type wrong in teh same way everytime. It's ridiculous. I type "the" "teh" every time. Now I need to go change the one in the first line haha
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
28 Apr 09
Lately, I have been typing "teh", too. And I just put "typeing" before I corrected it. Yesterday I typed "poeple"! I think my fingers need a time out corner!
1 person likes this
@haiershen (1080)
• China
27 Apr 09
Hi,good discussion, i always do that, one day, i want to send an e-mail to a customer, i want to say:"i'm very glad to hear you say that" but unfortable, i will change to"i'm glad to hear me say that",this is only typing that, not by my realize that. after my realize the e-mail has already sent out. those mistake always happaned on my daily life.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Oh, that's so embarrassing to make a mistake in an email and realize it after you send it! I'm sure they understood and I hope it made them laugh.
1 person likes this
@cassyisme (107)
• Canada
28 Apr 09
hahaha, actually there are alot of words that I type them how I say it. I'm really good at spelling actually, but I LIKE typing like that because it just describes my personality moreso then if I were typing with complete proper grammer and spelling. I mean, that would explain me fine, but I find it boring. so I say things like instead of "hey there" I say "hey thuuur." just because :) I love putting more letters in to emphasize the word. like, when I say hello or hey or whatever, I'm like "heeey" because, thats how I'd say it in real life. I dont say it quick and easy, I say things dramatically. I'm a very dramatic person. so it doesn't bother me unless people are spelling things really wrong because they don't know how to spell it/because that's actually how they think it is spelled. thats the only thing about it that irritates me. othhhherwise, I'm diggin' it :)! anyways, peace !
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
28 Apr 09
I really enjoy it when people type the way they normally talk! It makes it much more interesting and is almost like interacting over the telephone--with no sound!
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@Loen210 (1540)
• United States
26 Apr 09
I'd say not often mispell, but misTYPE. Unfortunately, since I seem to type 99.9% of the time of 'writing', I try to speed like a cheetah (metaphor), and so there are typos galore! But I do that mostly on WORD, since it fixes them automatically, and I do spellcheck.
@Loen210 (1540)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Yes. Also when you do abbreviation or shortened passages on purposes. (Many red swiveled lines beneath passages and words.) But overall, I am very thankful for "spellcheck." ;o)
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Spellcheck is great, isn't it? But the grammar check tells me I make a lot of mistakes that I don't. It wants to substitute inappropriate tenses for words and calls me on sentence fragments that aren't. Still, it's useful most of the time!
@saundyl (9783)
• Canada
4 May 09
I seem to have trouble with "much" i tend to want to spell it "mutch" ever since i met this family with the last name spelt that way.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
4 May 09
I can understand why you would misspell that word! You'll have to do some visual association to break that habit--picture a hutch when you think of that family's name and picture "much" when you think of that word. It might work! Mutch does sound like how much should be spelled! No wonder you have trouble.
1 person likes this
@saundyl (9783)
• Canada
4 May 09
Thats a really good idea, thanks! I'm going to try that.
@guybrush (4658)
• Australia
27 Apr 09
Yes, indeed! I often type 'inciteful' instead of 'insightful' - even though I'm well aware of the difference! I have no idea why my fingers automatically do this - but I just can't seem to help it. It's especially annoying as I'm a freelance proofreader, and this sort of error is pretty inexcusable. Also, as I get older, I often find my fingers do something entirely different to what my brain is intending ... which is a bit scary, but unavoidable!
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I'm 55 and until recently my fingers behaved and did what my brain told them to. Now they seem to have minds of their own sometimes! I can see how you must be careful--I've always wanted to proofread. I see so many mistakes in the newspaper and magazines and hear so many grammar mistakes on the television news!
1 person likes this
@cyrus123 (6363)
• United States
27 Apr 09
This is so funny! Country folks in Alabama, which is where I'm from, say "winder", too. I consider myself pretty country but I've always said "winda", myself. This reminds me of the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter". At the end of the movie, Loretta Lynn's husband is talking about building a new house and he says something about putting a "picture winder" over here. Have you seen that movie? Like I told one of the other mylotters in this discussion, I was always good in spelling. However, I remember misspelling the word "recieve" when I was in school. I wasn't the only one. Several others in the class misspelled it, too. The words "niece" and "recieve" were two words I always had problems with. I couldn't remember whether the "i" came before the "e". I tend to misspell words unintentionally when I'm tired. Maybe I thought I hit the key but I didn't hit it hard enough. When I'm tired, I don't have much to say, anyway. I always reread my posts before I submit them.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I'm glad there are others that pronounce "window" that way! I saw that movie years and years ago but don't remember that one scene. It was an inspiring movie, though, and next time it shows up on tv I'd like to watch it again.
@cyrus123 (6363)
• United States
27 Apr 09
I saw the movie at the theatre when it first came out in 1980. I also have the video and there's no telling how many times I've watched it since. That's why I remember that scene so well. Kathy.
• Philippines
27 Apr 09
Hmmm, I bet no, there's no word that I habitually misspell even though I know how to spell it. Why? Because I if I misspell the word, I really don't know the real spelling, ha ha ha. And, sometimes, I don't care anyway, specially if it's in SMS, since misspelled words there are acceptable:D
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
27 Apr 09
In SMS, everyone understands you no matter how you spell!
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Apr 09
There aren't any words that I don't spell correctly that are like main words I guess like windows. For me the one that I misspell constantly - and completely on purpose is awe. Awe is the correct way to spell the word but like most people out there, when I'm typing it, it comes out as Aww! or Awwwwww! is I start to get really excited. It's something simple and I feel like most people do it without even realizing what they are doing.
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@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
25 Apr 09
Well, awwwww is very expressive and just how we feel when we are in awe of something so I guess you can be forgiven that one!
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