Words you’ve gotten wrong your whole life

[jsmiam]

I’ll begin by saying I’m definitely not dyslexic. But a small handful of words, I have on occasion realized I’ve been reading and seeing them wrong for years. (I would label mine as cases of my brain making assumptions and filling in blanks for me. Even if there were no blanks. )

Most I discovered much earlier in life. Imbecile for years I read/saw (and pronounced in my head) as “i-m-b-e-I-C-l-e”, but eventually, teen years, one day I realized, “oh wow!”

But just the other day, searching Amazon to buy one, I realized there’s no such thing as a “n-e-o-d-y-n-u-m” magnet, it’s “neodymium”.

And “deep-wall” sockets (a tool) are actually “deep-well.” Such a short word, and I’ve misread it for a lifetime.

I know for Lit, lots of people see “8” to “12” when it’s really “5.5”. ;-)

Anyone else have words that their brain has tricked them with?

 

[HordHolm]

Anything based on the root 'embarrass' has me dribbling in frustration, and 'manoeuvre' is the other bane of my writing (difficult when one studied military history).

 

[EmilyMiller]

It’s not really the same as what you are saying, but - when using a physical keyboard - I always spell client and clinet. No idea why.

Em

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I used to leave the second 'i' out of penitentiary ...

Also, I always have to remind myself that friend is fiend with an 'r' ...

 

[alohadave]

It was years before I realized that 'detritus' wasn't actually spelled 'detrius'.

It was when I first heard it spoken that I realized that I was leaving out a letter.

 

[KeithD]

discreet/discrete

 

[Trionyx]

It’s not really the same as what you are saying, but - when using a physical keyboard - I always spell client and clinet. No idea why.

Em

Or ‘cliten’, otherwise known as a small clit. What a bummer…

 

[onehitwanda]

se·par·ate.

I always have to remember the trick I learned at age seven - "He scored par on se par ate holes"

Sigh.

 

[SimonDoom]

Twice, I've unthinkingly substituted "waste" for "waist" In Literotica stories, which is a pretty bad mistake in an erotic story.

 

[HordHolm]

Slight tangent, but my misheard song lyric was me always thinking that Stevie Wonder was singing about a girl called Marchad Ee-yemour...

 

[gunhilltrain]

"The only thing that I got has been bothering me my whole life." My spelling of everything is terrible, which makes me dependent on computer corrections. I don't know how I got through college with only a typewriter. Sometimes the spelling is so bad that even the spell checker is confused. "Bureaucracy" is one such word.

 

[alohadave]

Slight tangent, but my misheard song lyric was me always thinking that Stevie Wonder was singing about a girl called Marchad Ee-yemour...

It wasn't until last year when Kiss From A Rose was in the subtitles of Yellowjackets that I found out that one of the lyrics is "Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey". I had always thought it was grave, not grey.

It rocked my world.

 

[alohadave]

Sometimes the spelling is so bad that even the spell checker is confused. "Bureaucracy" is one such word.

I always think it should be Beaurocracy.

 

[HordHolm]

It wasn't until last year when Kiss From A Rose was in the subtitles of Yellowjackets that I found out that one of the lyrics is "Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey". I had always thought it was grave, not grey.

It rocked my world.

Me too!!!

 

[NC_Coastal]

Deus ex machina. It's much more nuanced than I realized. Cool concept though.

 

[12oclocktales]

Tainted windows rather than the correct tinted ones.

 

[Djmac1031]

I think I talked before here about how I used "prone" several times in several stories before someone finally pointed out to me that it meant face down on the stomach, not flat on one's back.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I always spelled sequelae squelae. I've only ever had to read or handwrite it, never had to type it until last week and autocorrect spanked me.

 

[Winter_Fare]

And I only recently clocked that complement and compliment are totally different words

 

[Winter_Fare]

I think I talked before here about how I used "prone" several times in several stories before someone finally pointed out to me that it meant face down on the stomach, not flat on one's back.

There's a "prone bone" thread on the GB if you wanted to reinforce the lesson...

 

[WyreBendr0417]

It’s not really the same as what you are saying, but - when using a physical keyboard - I always spell client and clinet. No idea why.

Em

I feel your pain. I am forever inverting letters in words. Mostly vowels. It would probably help if I was a better tipyst, but it's a little late in life for me to go back to school for that.

WB

 

[MillieDynamite]

I’ll begin by saying I’m definitely not dyslexic.

Well, I am dyslexic. Reading or writing, the following words were worst for me until I got my glasses that keep the letters from jumping around. Most often, the comes out hte, Bigoted becomes bigtowed, Angle looks like Angel, and Angel will appear to be Angle. There are others, but you get the gest of the thing, or is ist gset, just kidding.

 

[stickygirl]

'Gotten' for starters. Please ...

Prostate and prostrate ticks me off. Men don't even know what they've got up their ass or arse.
Yup separate but there's ones like permanent or permenant that drive me nuts.
Weirdy, my brain types how a word sounds so often my fingers type 'my' when I mean 'by'. Ms and Bs but only when typing quickly...

 

[onehitwanda]

Prostate and prostrate

What about those that like to prostrate their prostate? What if it's a part-time thing? Does that make them a pro-rate prostate prostrator?

Don't worry I'll leave quietly

 

[jsmiam]

I did also live to my 30s, thinking “Barbra S-t-r-e-i-s-L-a-n-d” with an “L.” (I also filled in the missing “a” in “Barbra” for her, but that was just me spelling Barbara correctly. ;-)