MineralMan's Visual Guide to Commonly Misspelled Words: Issue 2

[MineralMan]

By popular demand, I am releasing Issue 2 of my guide ahead of schedule. There, Their, and They're are some of the most commonly misspelled words in use today. However, they're somewhat difficult to illustrate visually. Here's my best effort:

There - I have not been there.


Their - That is their dog.



They're - They're many things at once.

[wtmusic]

1. Thar - their's gold in them thar hills. nt

[JuniperLea]

21. Thar she blows!

[TCJ70]

2. Well done!

They're certainly sick of their dog over there. (I had to...)

[MadHound]

3. So, for how many "issues" are you going to be this condescending?

Really now, two threads on spelling? Little obsessive there, don'tcha think?

[MineralMan]

4. As many as I can manage, thanks.

I appreciate your looking at my thread. You're too kind, by half.

[Bragi]

12. Good point, what with this being a mandatory thread

Oh wait, it isn't mandatory, and people who aren't interested can just skip over it, or click "ignore thread" if they are having trouble not reading it.

So what was your problem exactly? Do you have trouble not reading a thread?

[Sal Minella]

14. So, don't read his posts. Personally, I'm tired of having to read

posts twice to mentally correct the confusions of "where / were" and "than / then" and other mis-usages that result in nonsense.

I don't see how in hell anybody can confuse "woman / women" but people do it here all the time.

[Hutzpa]

42. This is not a classroom

but a message board, it is not compulsory for people to spell correctly or use
accurate grammar, as long as you get the message the individual is sending then
I personally do not pay greater attention to minor mistakes.

It is this type of conservative thinking that have become endemic on this board
that is creating animosity between us.

People need to stop.

[dionysus]

44. ROFL!11!! proper spelling is now "conservative thinking". just when i thought i'd seen it all...

:rofl:

[RC]

48. +1000

Excellent response thar.

[emcguffie]

51. Bad grammar and punctuation can make things more difficult to understand.

Sometimes bad grammar and/or bad punctuation can make something impossible to understand.

It seems to me that people could make a little bit more of an effort, and then their readers might have to make less of an effort to decipher what they mean.

All of that is apart from the bad effect the constant exposure to bad spelling and grammar is also having on many people, by confusing them further.

[dionysus]

55. right. i always thought education was valued by liberals.

[gkhouston]

56. It's not a classroom?? I think someone just got schooled. n/t

[Raschel]

66. People do make mistakes. Some are typos. I have caught myself typing "their" when "there" was the

correct word.

[Karenina]

17. May the RECS OVERCOME!!!

Usually I don't bother which such nonsense but it would do this old Tante's heart a great deal of good to SEE DUer's register their appreciation for a brilliant idea. It's fun and it's funny and it's HELPFUL to anyone who cares about accuracy in presentation! I hope that over time it become another rich resource on DU. ACCURACY COUNTS! FUNNY PICTURES AND REFERENCES HELP!!!

Tante K. Weighing in.

:pals: MH

[MineralMan]

18. La plume de ma tante est sur le table de mon oncle.

Thanks, Tante K!

[JHB]

36. It ain't condescension, it's comedy n/t

[dionysus]

43. now, let's not be a jerk for no reason, shall we?

[Lucian]

46. +1

[CakeGrrl]

54. Where's the sense of humor around here?

Besides, what's the harm in spreading a little information?

[rucky]

5. Inspiring.

I've never used the "hide thread" feature before!

[kick-ass-bob]

6. lol - I feel smarter already.

:rofl:

Love it. :D

[Fuddnik]

7. How are you going to tackle "casting asparagus"?

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. Is that necessary? Casting asparagus is dumb.

Asparagus never learns his lines and is always late for rehearsals.

[wtmusic]

15. Careful, Asparagus will start to resemble your asparaging remarks. nt

[gkhouston]

57. I made the mistake of buying *canned* asparagus once.

You can bet I cast it. :puke:

[Glorfindel]

8. Well done!

:hi: :kick:

[Renew Deal]

9. Have you covered lose and loose yet?

That one should be pinned to the top of the forum!

[LWolf]

35. Agreed. The most irritating example of slovenly spelling out there. nt

[Enrique]

38. im loosing you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-WQwHxJqSo

[polmaven]

11. When may we look forward to #3?

I can't WEIGHT!

[Maru Kitteh]

13. Could you just take a breath and breathe?

No really, could you do that one? It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. Or take some cloth and makes some clothes?

[MineralMan]

19. Oooh! That's going to be a hard one. I'll add it to the list.

Thanks!

[BeFree]

23. My way... or the hiway );

There - here -- meaning place.

Their - ownership

They're - doing, active,

[Cresent City Kid]

69. If you worked at my printing plant, your head would explode

First, there's the missing "s" at the end of plural words, apostrophes fugeddaboutit. There are a few more that I may remember with more time, but my favorite is the use of the phrase "right now" to mean the recent past, e.g. "That's the the job I just did, right now."

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. Special request: Please cover apostrophes and also "to" vs "too" in a future lesson. nm

[DevonRex]

20. Wonderful. If you could do lie, lie and lay with conjugations

I'd be grateful. And people can obviously use a refresher here.

[dionysus]

22. when i was a wee lad wadsworth used to torture me with those exercises...

:rofl:

[DevonRex]

26. And I bet you wouldn't dare to use those words incorrectly

if he's anywhere nearby. ;)

[dionysus]

27. heavens no. it's reminds me of all those times when i was supposed to be in lessons, instead i was

cowering out back, hiding behind the cruise missile console.... :scared:

[DevonRex]

31. At least he didn't rap your knuckles like my piano

teacher did. But just his cold stare can strike fear. No need for rapping.

[dionysus]

32. he can be quite scary.

:rofl:

[DevonRex]

34. OMG!! Not the index finger!!!

:scared: :rofl:

[dragonlady]

24. I missed the first issue--do you have a link?

Keep up the good work!

[MineralMan]

29. Sure. See below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1479832

[RC]

49. Good idea. Include links for all previous threads in each new one.

That way we won't miss any. I think this subject is a fun read. Besides it has been an on going subject from almost the beginning of DU.
I might even learn something.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. K & R.

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. See also: "faze" vs "phase"

"that doesn't faze me at all."

"It's just a phase."

[Tutankhamun]

30. Good use of visuals!

I worked as an English teacher for a few years, and I could have used something like this.

[Major Hogwash]

33. Freeper World is freaking out. They think you're talking about them.

They are more than just paranoid, you know.

[gkhouston]

58. Meanwhile, they're taking notes.

It's never too late to get your GED.

[stubtoe]

37. K and R

More, please!

[tridim]

39. And always remember I before E, except after C and...

dozens of other random words and proper names that follow no rules whatsoever.

[MineralMan]

59. That's just weird!

English is such a wonderful language!

[RaleighNCDUer]

68. That's "i before e except after c when the sound is long e'

and weird is actually more a short i sound - wird, which makes it look like is should sound like bird, which actually sounds more like buhrd, which would make the wird word, or wuhrd...Uh, was I saying something?

[mrmpa]

40. I learned a long time ago in catholic school the difference between

the 3

there-has the word here in the middle and refers to a place
their-has the word heir in the middle and refers to a person
they're-means they are

[NV Whino]

63. A minor point

Between is used when referring to two things/persons.
Among is used when referring to three or more.

[mrmpa]

64. Damn, you got me there. I realized that when I posted. I should have

said the word contains.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

41. I'm looking forward to the "affect and "effect" edition.

The misuse of those two is a very common error.

When I'm tired and writing I still catch myself misusing "their" and "they're." I know the proper usage, but it's something that started in college and for some reason stuck with me. :shrug:

[Lucian]

45. You mean misused. Not misspelled.

And way to be condescending.

[dionysus]

47. i see you guys coordinated your talking points vis a vis "condescending". awesome.

:rofl:

[RC]

50. And now for the subject of proper capitalization.

:evilgrin:

[dionysus]

53. Well, you have a point on that topic.

:D

[MineralMan]

60. Actually, no. I meant misspelled.

Same sound. Different spelling.

Thanks for kicking the thread, though.

[emcguffie]

52. Another special request.

Led vs lead. The past tense of the verb "to lead" (rhymes with need) is "led" not "lead" (both rhyme with head).

It's one of those mistakes encouraged by spell check. I hardly ever see "led" anymore at all. But can you make it funny, too?

Thanks.

[MineralMan]

61. I'll follow your lead in a future issue. I'm easily led.

:rofl:

[krispos42]

62. They're looking for their car over there.

;-)

[MineralMan]

65. But it just got repossessed, so it's not over there any more.

Their car is now in the towing company's yard. They're in for a long walk, I think.

[csziggy]

67. These are refreshing!

How about rein, reign, and for good measure, rain?

[Karenina]

70. . .

[ellenfl]

71. the last one is a little weak (not week). i think it would be

clearer to say that 'they're = they are'.

two of my pet peeves seen here . . .

you don't 'wreck havoc', you 'wreak havoc' and
the correct common saying is 'if you think that, you have another think (not thing), coming'.

ellen fl