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Missspellings abound - in English
Thread poster: Cilian O'Tuama
Cilian O'Tuama
Cilian O'Tuama  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:24
German to English
+ ...
Jun 2, 2015

Maybe it's happened already, but went unnoticed to me.

Is there already an example of an incorrectly spelt/spelled word that gets more google hits than the word spelt/spelled correctly?

It's probably only a matter of time. I'd've thought "accom(m)odation" would be right up there. But it's still a factor of 10 difference, I'm glad to report.

"Loose" as a verb is difficult to check.

Any takers? Not to worry,
Cilian


 
Balasubramaniam L.
Balasubramaniam L.  Identity Verified
India
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English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER
Separate Jun 3, 2015

(Have I spelt it correctly?)

According to this link (which is rather old, BTW), separate tops the list. Other candidates are "definitely"...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/7930745/Separate-is-most-commonly-misspelt-word.html


Loose/lose often gets me too, so I can agree with you there.
... See more
(Have I spelt it correctly?)

According to this link (which is rather old, BTW), separate tops the list. Other candidates are "definitely"...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/7930745/Separate-is-most-commonly-misspelt-word.html


Loose/lose often gets me too, so I can agree with you there.

I am often taken down by send/sent, especially when I am typing or writing fast.
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:24
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Probably this: Jun 3, 2015

"everyday" (humdrum, quotidian, usual, habitual)
"every day" (each individual day, and possibly consecutive)

Re the title of the thread; I assume "missspellings" is intentionally wrong (your little joke).

"Loose/lose" is unforgivable/unforgiveable and in my world, anyone making that mistake is immediately banished, never to be seen or heard from again.

[Edited at 2015-06-03 07:30 GMT]


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
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Spanish to English
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Don't get me started on apostrophes Jun 3, 2015

Tom in London wrote:


"Loose/lose" is unforgivable/unforgiveable and in my world, anyone making that mistake is immediately banished, never to be seen or heard from again.

[Edited at 2015-06-03 07:30 GMT]


Yes, off with their heads! Every time I see "loose" instead of "lose" another little part of me gives up the ghost. Definately...


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:24
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I like that Jun 3, 2015

Cilian O'Tuama wrote:

I'd've


Daring - but unexceptionable !


 
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 06:24
Chinese to English
norange Jun 3, 2015

Just a reminder that misspellings are neither new nor special to the internet. Our word orange comes from the misspelling of the word naranja(?). This process has been going on for centuries. In fact, these days, the easy availability of dictionaries and spellcheckers have made misspellings very rare by historical standards.

The next time it happens, I reckon it will be because an error has crept into someone's spellchecker software.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:24
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Ah but.... Jun 3, 2015

Phil Hand wrote:

Just a reminder that misspellings are neither new nor special to the internet. Our word orange comes from the misspelling of the word naranja(?). This process has been going on for centuries. In fact, these days, the easy availability of dictionaries and spellcheckers have made misspellings very rare by historical standards.

The next time it happens, I reckon it will be because an error has crept into someone's spellchecker software.


Ah but a misspelling is very different from the adoption of a word into a language. "Elephant and Castle" may be the result of the pity felt by the English hoi-polloi for Henry VIII's unfortunate first wife "La Infanta de Castilla" into English - but it isn't WRONG.

It's WRONG SPELLING and ROGUE APOSTROPHES wot get's my goat.

[Edited at 2015-06-03 09:58 GMT]


 
Cilian O'Tuama
Cilian O'Tuama  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:24
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Not about common misspellings Jun 5, 2015

definately, seperate, satelite, occured, devistated, ...
but about misspellings which acc. to google actually outnumber the correct spelling.

Has it happened yet, in English, on google?


 
Giles Watson
Giles Watson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:24
Italian to English
In memoriam
The many and the few Jun 5, 2015

Tom in London wrote:

the English hoi-polloi



Careful, Tom.

"Hoi polloi" (οἱ πολλοί) doesn't need an article as it already has one of its own.

And if you're not using the phrase as an attributive, the hyphen is bit misssleading

Actually "oi polloi" without the initial h/rough breathing gets an impressive c.340,000 hits as against c.430,000 for the traditional transcription. But that's Google so the figures are probably a bit distorted because they'll be adjusted for my search history.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
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Italian to English
Yes Giles Jun 5, 2015

Yes Giles - and thanks. My post was an illustration of Muphry's Law. (Not a mispppelling)

 
Charlie Bavington
Charlie Bavington  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:24
French to English
Similar Jun 5, 2015

Giles Watson wrote:

Actually "oi polloi" without the initial h/rough breathing gets an impressive c.340,000 hits as against c.430,000 for the traditional transcription. But that's Google so the figures are probably a bit distorted because they'll be adjusted for my search history.



I get similar figures, FWIW. Most of the "oi" hits on the first few pages (I like to jump through the pages a bit, the number of hits can change as you go) seem to be a band. Which just makes me think that there is often something to distort the hits. A band, a book, a restaurant name. It's going to be hard to find an example not distorted in this way. Interesting question, though.


 
Suzan Hamer
Suzan Hamer  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 23:24
English
+ ...
I don't know if this qualifies: Jun 5, 2015

"lack toast and tolerant".
And who knows whether it has more hits than the correct term.

As in:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130313073930AADBqNW
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_lack_toast_and_tolerant
... See more
"lack toast and tolerant".
And who knows whether it has more hits than the correct term.

As in:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130313073930AADBqNW
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_lack_toast_and_tolerant


[Edited for clarity]

[Edited at 2015-06-05 12:40 GMT]
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Inga Petkelyte
Inga Petkelyte  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 22:24
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
Laughed long and loudly Jun 5, 2015

Tom in London wrote:

"Loose/lose" is unforgivable/unforgiveable and in my world, anyone making that mistake is immediately banished, never to be seen or heard from again.

[Edited at 2015-06-03 07:30 GMT]


Had a good laugh about this, thanks Tom.

To the same note, let's remember "choosen" - a-a-awful

Yet are we talking misspelling or confusion here? Then my two cents would be "laid" instead of "lay" - by native speakers mostly! That's A-A-AWFUL.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:24
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Native speakers Jun 5, 2015

Alas, Inga. the level of literacy in the English-speaking world is now so low, in anyone born after about 1980, that it's become so much the norm to make simple mistakes that these simple mistakes are being accepted as correct.

To hear very good English spoken, we have to go to someone whose mother tongue is not English and who for that reason learned it correctly and makes NO mistakes, whilst speaking very beautifully and above all, EFFECTIVELY. One example, currently very much in
... See more
Alas, Inga. the level of literacy in the English-speaking world is now so low, in anyone born after about 1980, that it's become so much the norm to make simple mistakes that these simple mistakes are being accepted as correct.

To hear very good English spoken, we have to go to someone whose mother tongue is not English and who for that reason learned it correctly and makes NO mistakes, whilst speaking very beautifully and above all, EFFECTIVELY. One example, currently very much in the public eye, is Yannis Varoufakis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r47e1vJksTc

[Edited at 2015-06-05 13:36 GMT]
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Cilian O'Tuama
Cilian O'Tuama  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:24
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Seems like you guys have other issues to discuss, Jun 7, 2015

Seems like you guys have other issues to discuss, so I'll regroup (myself) and maybe rephrase, but it's not that difficult to see what I'm asking, or is it?

Wot I was just interested in finding out was if there's an incorrectly spelled English word that gets more googles than the correct spelling?

Harmless Q. But please continue to communicate. That's entertaining too.
Cilian


 
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Missspellings abound - in English






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