I'm not good at spelling it. See that first "d"? It either doesn't exist in my accent or, on the occasions when it shows up at all is extremely understated and in a different place.
Trying to explain how a word is spoken across accents is difficult to do for those of us not well versed in the IPA but basically, barring major differences on the level of letters between your accent and mine, the word is either "Wenzday" or "Wendsday" with the d in "Wend" being barely pronounced. Either way it definitely is not pronounced W E D anything. And so, for my whole life, the word has tripped me up. I read it without any hesitation or a second thought, but when I write it I have to stop myself and remind myself that it's not how I say it it's "Wed-nes-day" breaking it into three triads of letters makes sure both that I get the first "d" and that I get it on the correct side of the "n".
Are there any words, especially simple or common words, whose spelling routinely trips you up?
[Remember that this is an open thread with prompt, meaning that there is no expectation or demand that you stay on topic. The prompt is to start conversation, not limit it.]
I before E except after C, or when sounded like A as in neighbor and weigh, unless it's weird, or caffeine, or any of the many other words where I follows E. And there's at least two poems I want to quote in full but I can't remember where to find the book they live in or enough verbatim of either poem to Google it.
ReplyDeleteI once had a math professor stopped in his tracks by the spelling of the word weird, don't remember what started it but in trying to move passed it he said, "I before E" he wrote it out on the board, he erased it because that clearly wasn't right, he wrote it correct way. He looked at it. He asked a student if that was correct. He finally concluded, "I guess weird is just a weird word."
DeleteI before e, except after c, and when pronounced as eigh, as in neighbour and weigh, and weird is just weird.
DeleteSorry, Ellie, I don't know how I managed to not see your comment when it was right above the one I was replying to, but I am now quite abashed.
DeleteEllieMurasaki, the version I was taught was "when the sound is -ee-, i before e except after c" - though this may only work in UK accents.
DeleteBefore I rescheduled this week's Monday Musings to Tuesday, I realized I had titled the post "Munday" Musings.
ReplyDeleteIn speech, I say "Wensday" but when writing it out, I pronounce it to my self as "Wednissday." I also say "cuh-net-uh-cut" but when writing I say "you connect, I cut." Basically, over the years whenever I came across a word I was unsure of, I developed a more phonetic pronunciation for it, and whenever I have occasion to write the word, it comes to mind. So I say eye-run to myself even though out loud I usually say eye-urn, so that I can write Iron and things like that. I used to think schedule was pronounced "school duel" when I 5, because I'd seen it in writing but never heard it pronounced.
ReplyDeleteiron doesn't give me trouble /anymore/, mind, but it did a long time ago and the phonetic version stayed with me.
because I'd seen it in writing but never heard it pronounced.
DeleteI remember someone telling me how the read all about Goethe and Wagner, but never heard anyone talk about them, and heard everyone talk about Gerta and Vagner but never saw them in writing. Then, one day, somehow, they understood.
"Ennui" and "genre". Read them before I'd heard them; no end of confusion.
DeleteDefinitely had the same thing with genre.
Deleteiron doesn't give me trouble /anymore/, mind, but it did a long time ago and the phonetic version stayed with me.
DeleteYeah, it's spoken like a building material and written like, "I Ron. You Hermione. Where Harry?"
@Ana, so ennui isn't pronounced en you eye? *wanders off in the direction of a dictionary*
Delete"on wee" says the dictionary. now i'll just have to imagine one of those peeing little boy statues, and the little boy statue is sad because he's tired of all this weeing.
DeleteYeah, and I've heard "en wee".
DeleteOgden Nash once rhymed "ennui" and "can we?" in a poem that I can't remember anything else about and have no time to look up.
DeleteEn wee/ ken we?
Ahn wee/ cahn we?
??
I usually don't have a problem with spelling, but I'm definitely guilty of pronouncing words the way I believe they look. I still occasionally catch myself saying "dis-ip-ils" for disciples. And this despite the fact that my mom is a speech and language pathologist! I'm just an extremely text-based person.
ReplyDeleteOff-Topic: My fiancee is making a webshow. The second and latest episode may be of interest to folks here:
ReplyDeleteTop 5 Most Hilariously Offensive Chick Tracts
(CW: Everything you'd expect for discussion of Chick Tracts: Racism, spiritual abuse, toxic fundamentalist Christianity, anti-Muslim horribleness, violence, death, bigotry directed at QUILTBAG people, threats of damnation, brief mentions of child sexual abuse, portrayal of witches as evil, terrorism, violence against children, violence by children, torture, implied incest, AIDS--it's a list covering several tracts, so they're all touched on very briefly)
http://blip.tv/vigalovescomics/top-5-most-hilariously-offensive-chick-tracts-6420917
Wednesday stopped being a problem for spelling once it became "Woden's Day" for me. But I will trip over keyboard-related typos all day long...usually in e-i combinations.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird how knowing rules of the languages English is borrowing from really helps being able to spell them and pronounce them correctly. Must be why all the Scripps-Howard competitors get that etymology as part of their knowledge.
Oh yeah, spelling isn't usually a problem for me, except maybe for remembering which words end in "-ance" and which ones in "-ence."
DeleteBut there are typos that I make so often that I always stop and retype the word immediately. Like, "palin" instead of "plain" and "remember" losing its second M and putting an extra "p" in "appropriate." And, just now, typing "and" instead of "an." The fingers just assume that extra "d."
I pronounce it "Wenzday." I think sometimes I get a partial "d" sound in there, like "Wendsday." It's Woden's Day, Woe-father's day. And now that I've been reminded of that, and since my own particular connection with the Way-Tamer is through his devotion to knowledge-seeking, I feel like I should run out and learn more about risk assessment for obscure chemicals or something.
ReplyDeleteVery occasionally in the UK one hears "Wed-n's-day", with a schwa in the middle syllable, but this is rare enough that I haven't been able to associate it with any particular group or accent.
ReplyDeleteRemembering correct spelling generally isn't a problem for me. Typoes, on the other hand...