Andrew Huff / September 18, 2009 9:40 AM

Question inspired by Robyn, who said, "When I was a little kid, I thought the word tuition was actually to wishin' - so when my mom talked about paying tuition for my brother's school, I didn't understand why they were paying for him to literally wish at school. It would be an interesting thread to see other people's word misconceptions from childhood."

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Carrie / September 18, 2009 10:24 AM

On a Robyn note... As a kid when we were playing hockey in gym, we were taught “no high-stickey!” … you know, don’t put your hockey stick too high in the air. Right, so a couple of years ago, I was flipping through the channels and hockey was on and I caught someone doing high-stickey and I yelled out “hey he should be in trouble for high-stickey!” and my boyfriend looked at me, smiled and inquired what “high-stickey” was. I explained and then he had to break the news that it was actually “high sticking”, not stickey. All these years…

Also… I always type “the” as “teh”

cazadores / September 18, 2009 10:31 AM

i dont pay attention enough to know which words i dont hear correctly, which is why i continue to mishear words, because i dont pay attention in the first place.

bob / September 18, 2009 11:53 AM

rhythm. or rhthym, or whatever. geez, i hate that word. curses!

holden / September 18, 2009 12:13 PM

excersize
instead of
exercise

Alison / September 18, 2009 12:25 PM

When I was in second or third grade, we read a story about coyotes. I had, of course, heard the word before, but I had never before seen it written. I remember being so confused and wondering what the hell a coy oat was (that's how I read it in my head).

I always want to spell financial as fianancial, which is bad seeing as how I work at an accounting firm.

cval / September 18, 2009 2:06 PM

Principle and Principal its ridiculous but if I start going too fast my belief becomes the hell-spawn that ruled my grade and high schools

Meems / September 18, 2009 2:10 PM

Chciago

I didn't even do that intentionally, just a typing thing obviously.

Andrew / September 18, 2009 2:32 PM

It's not exactly a misspelling, but whenever I type "idea," I want to capitalize it. I have to force myself not to.

printdude / September 18, 2009 3:38 PM

olypmics

Olympics.

OOOOO in Two weeks. I won't learn how to spell it by 2016, I guarantee you that.

p / September 18, 2009 5:12 PM

below me.

LaShawn Williams / September 18, 2009 7:21 PM

The "you're/your" thing is a hot one these days...

LaShawn Williams / September 18, 2009 7:21 PM

The "you're/your" thing is a hot one these days...

maardvark / September 19, 2009 9:23 AM

I'm a lawyer, and thanks to years of writing the word "statute," when I need to write about a "statue," I simply cannot type that word on the first try.

Incidentally, on the lawyer note, the word "decedent" is an unusually tough one to type, assuming you're using standard fingering on a QWERTY keyboard.

Also on the lawyer note--this time just a funny misspelling--I once wrote a contract that purported to release all clams. (The spelling mistake was caught after the first draft, of course, and the claims got released the way they should have. No idea about the clams.)

ron / September 19, 2009 2:29 PM

Exfoliate & foliage...i want to say and spell exfoilate & foilage! It's funny when you say the misspellings in a Curly accent (stooges)

annie / September 20, 2009 6:45 PM

for some reason I always type tube instead of tub and for the life of me I can't spell definitely. I had to look that up.

Corinna / September 21, 2009 5:26 PM

Annie, I've always had problems with definitely too! At least you know it's not "defiantly."

This is a trade word for me: I often type "theologian" as "theologican." That Vatican always sneaks in where it's not wanted.

Sara B. / September 21, 2009 6:42 PM

I always forget which words double their final consonant when adding "ing" to the end: occurring, referring, traveling, etc. Thank goodness for Firefox spell check!

cklaus / September 21, 2009 8:19 PM

don't the english do double l's in traveling? I agree about occurring also
prescription
surprise
jeapordy

oops i still don't know how to spell that one.

Sara / September 21, 2009 8:55 PM

Hold me closer, Tony Danza...