Words you’ve gotten wrong your whole life

[jsmiam]

You Americans always get Aluminium wrong. It's cute.

Ahh, such colour!

 

[SimonDoom]

You Americans always get Aluminium wrong. It's cute.

Fewer letters are generally better, in my book. We've done the language a favor by getting rid of all those unnecessary i's and u's.

We've also clarified things by replacing "s" with "z" in words like "criticize." After all, it's pronounced "z", not "s".

I admit "aluminum" is an oddity because we continue to use the "i" for the other elements.

Nothing like a little pointless nerdy cross-Atlantic grammatical smack talk to get the blood flowing.

 

[onehitwanda]

Ahh, such colour!

Don't make me come over there and teach you the true meaning of chastizsement

 

[MillieDynamite]

gague. gauge. EVERY FUCKING TIME.

I gauge that you got gouged in your gullet. What were talking about?

 

[alohadave]

What have I said once? We don't write smut here; we write erotica.

I write smut. I'm not good enough to be writing erotica.

 

[alohadave]

Fewer letters are generally better, in my book. We've done the language a favor by getting rid of all those unnecessary i's and u's.

We've also clarified things by replacing "s" with "z" in words like "criticize." After all, it's pronounced "z", not "s".

There was a movement after Webster created his dictionary to make British words more British by adding 'u' or 'i' to words that never had them because they didn't come from French.

I admit "aluminum" is an oddity because we continue to use the "i" for the other elements.

The fun part is that it was discovered by a Brit, and he spelled it aluminum.

 

[jsmiam]

Don't make me come over there and teach you the true meaning of chastizsement

I will enter my house at ground level, go up exactly one floor, and await you, on the SECOND floor. ;-)

 

[onehitwanda]

I will enter my house at ground level, go up exactly one floor, and await you, on the SECOND floor. ;-)

I'm going to smite you with floor 13.

 

[Pureotica]

You Americans always get Aluminium wrong. It's cute.

Actually, both pronunciations of aluminum originated with the Brits. Blame them for the confusion.

The American, or as I prefer it, the correct pronunciation is the original. When the stodgy buggers decided to pluck an extra i from thin air, no one sent us the memo. Anyway, there is no i in the final syllable, and our way is more efficient.

We won the moral high ground over the issue at Yorktown. Or something. That last part is not true, but I'm sticking with it.
I have enough work to do without constantly conjuring phantom letters.

 

[Pureotica]

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

When someone loses weight their waist is wasting, but BBW enthusiasts consider it a tragic waste of waist.

 

[Pureotica]

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.

the word you want is supine, although prone has utility in erotica also.

 

[Pureotica]

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 didn't learn to touch type until relatively late in life. Tbh, I still kind of suck at it.

Transposing letters is a common error. It's essentially a case of muscle memory confusion. Our fingers just trip over the order.

 

[Pureotica]

Conscience/conscious.

English is so frustrating sometimes.

Just be conscientious, and you'll get there eventually.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Restaurant. I literally have to mispronounce it in my head to spell it correctly.

 

[Pureotica]

Blond/Blonde

In modern usage, you can get away with either spelling . They mean the same thing. The dual spelling is a holdover from French, which is a gendered language. In French, adding an e to a word feminizes it, as I understand. Beyond that, I don't speak a word of French. I'm kind of an English nerd though. I've picked lots of little tidbits of dubious utility. I can't remember ever referring to a male as a blond. A boy I'd probably say towhead, just because its a cool sounding word. Grown men have sandy hair, or some other descriptive term. For some reason, a blonde is feminine to me.

 

[Pureotica]

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

Only if they're freelancers. The industry frowns on corporate pro-rate prostate prostrations. Elon Musk forced the ingrate prostate prostrators to return to the office. The reprobates are now on probation.

 

[Pureotica]

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

Even knowing better, I still hear "revved up like a douche" from Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light."

 

[Pureotica]

The other factor, is when our misspellings/mispronunciations are better: I propose that my version, “longDitude” is a vast improvement, more descriptive, more consistently pronounceable, over “longitude”. ;-)

But it's easily confused with long dicked dude, which causes confusion in an erotica forum.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I can't remember ever referring to a male as a blond. A boy I'd probably say towhead, just because its a cool sounding word. Grown men have sandy hair, or some other descriptive term. For some reason, a blonde is feminine to me.

When I had hippy long hair, it was blond, and I've always referred to blonde women as blondes. Possibly from learning French, or from English English books. I get confused by American blonds being either sex. That's wrong, to me.

Towhead, for me, is a snotty little kid, probably tending towards ginger. Not a full blooded ranga though, not a real red-head. Sandy just means they haven't been out in the sun enough - it's nondescript.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Even knowing better, I still hear "revved up like a douche" from Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light."

This. Every time. I don't even know what the proper lyric is.

 

[Rustyoznail]

This. Every time. I don't even know what the proper lyric is.

There are no proper lyrics. Bruce Springsteen had to have written it in a drug induced haze. After all, it was the 70s.

Maintenance. I keep spelling it wrong. And my fingers refuse to type the when I'm not watching - it's not teh!!!

 

[Pureotica]

This. Every time. I don't even know what the proper lyr

There are no proper lyrics. Bruce Springsteen had to have written it in a drug induced haze. After all, it was the 70s.

Maintenance. I keep spelling it wrong. And my fingers refuse to type the when I'm not watching - it's not teh!!!

It's deuce. Presumably a car and not a card, and hopefully not a turd, as in dropping a--. The lyrics are clearer in the Springsteen version. Though in both cases they amount to gibberish. Entertaining gibberish with rhythm, but gibberish nonetheless.

 

[MillieDynamite]

This. Every time. I don't even know what the proper lyric is.

revved up like a deuce. another runner in the night. (Deuce is a tied tennis match requiring two more wins to win)

 

[Djmac1031]

revved up like a deuce. another runner in the night. (Deuce is a tied tennis match requiring two more wins to win)

Now see, I always thought it was a car reference, a Deuce Coup to be specific. Some kind of racing engine reference.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Now see, I always thought it was a car reference, a Deuce Coup to be specific. Some kind of racing engine reference.

Perhaps it is. Never heard of Deuce Coup. That actually makes perfect sense with revved in it.