Easily(?) Confused Words

daan
My post was indicating something that annoys me. What is a big ask? A big question? A tough task?
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It seems to me like it's a tough task, or "a lot to ask", as many people say. I've never heard that one before though.
 
Driving Park
It seems to me like it's a tough task, or "a lot to ask", as many people say. I've never heard that one before though.
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It seems to be said mainly in football. "For this team to win, from 2 nil down, the way they are playing is a big ask"
 
Just skip to 4:38 for an amusing observation on the pronunciation of words, he's lucky he didn't get a smack in the mouth trying that joke in that part of town! Also it proves Topgear films are edited together in any old order!

 
"Why is it called the Liver building"?
"Ehhhhh..."
:lol:

I got into parkour from this (and trailers of Mirrors Edge :p)
 
Could someone please tell me whether the weather will be sunny or stormy today? Because after the damage caused by that last storm I really can't afford to weather another!
;)

I wulod be sriprseud if mnay plepoe had tbuolre rdeanig tihs.
I once read an entire passage like that without any issue or hesitation, so long as the first and last letter of the word are in their correct spot, and the rest of the letters are there regardless or order, the brain interprets the rest. Of course I saw that on one of the stupid chain e-mails, my mother always reads them.
 
Austin343
Most of the grammatical misconceptions that annoy me have been mentioned already, but in the same vein as "alot," I also hate when people spell "all right" as "alright," and, particularly, "as well" as "aswell." :banghead:
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I understand the other two, but I was under the impression that "alright" was an actual word.
 
I could be mistaken, but I'm under the impression that it's accepted fairly widely as a word precisely because so many people have mashed it together over the years.
 
Seems like it. You can freely interchange "alright" and "all right" and a sentence makes sense.
 
"Alright" = OK. "All right" = Wholly correct.
 
I've just thought of another horrible example of English language confusion...

Take the letter combination "OMB" in English.
Depending on the word, they can be pronounced "OM", "OOM", or "OHM".

e.g.
"Bomb" rhymes with "From", but not "Home" or "Loom".
"Womb" rhymes with "Loom", but not "Home" or "From"
"Comb" rhymes with "Home", but not "From" or "Loom"

and this also highlights another oddity...

"OME" isn't necessarily always "OHM" since "Home" & "Come" don't rhyme! :confused:

There, They're, and Their are things I often see confused, especially using "there" in place of the other 2, as in:

"I don't care, it's there problem" :ouch:

This highlights each use succinctly:

"They're going to have to put their stuff over there."

Several people will have to (They are or they're) going to have to put the stuff belonging to them" (Their) in a non-specific location (There.)
 
OMB can also be a variation of OMG to people following other religions...

I've got two follow-ups to 'Ghoti' (fish) I said in an earlier post.
I give someone a simple question: "What's another word for lady?"
"That's Easy.. Woman."
"Okay. Now say the plural."
"Woman."

No, that's not a misspelling. I do think that it's just us Kiwis that do that (and maybe the guys across the ditch :p).
My Science teacher told me that, as he's British. Then again, he convinced most of the class that Manchester's power is created by rats in a giant wheel
Smiley-Facepalm.gif
.
Saying 'Woman' as the plural is a habit that I need to get out of.
Wimen, Daniel.. it's Wimen!!

Another fun Ghoti fact!
The word 'Ghoughpteighbteau' can be pronounced as Potato!!
 
The your and you're thing really aggravates me. It isn't difficult whatsoever.


How many times have we seen facebook wall posts, "your annoying", "your crazy", "your stupid". It's not difficult whatsoever. Your= possession. You're= you are.
 
noob616
The your and you're thing really aggravates me. It isn't difficult whatsoever.


How many times have we seen facebook wall posts, "your annoying", "your crazy", "your stupid". It's not difficult whatsoever. Your= possession. You're= you are.
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Something about this post doesn't sit right with me. I feel your pain about the 'your vs. you're' issue. It's one of my pet peeves too. But the turn of phrase 'difficult whatsoever' that you use twice doesn't sound correct to me. Surely 'difficult at all' would be more appropriate. In my experience 'whatsoever' usually comes after a noun e.g. 'He had no idea whatsoever'.

What do others think? If there is anyone out there as nerdy as me that is!
 
PureAwesomeness
OK, I give up. How do you get 'Ghough' to make a 'po' sound?
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Simple:
Wikipedia article on 'Ghoti'
Ghoughpteighbteau is a similarly constructed word, used for illustration of irregularities in spelling.[...] It is a respelling of the word potato, and like potato is pronounced /poʊˈteɪtoʊ/. It has,
gh, pronounced /p/ as in hiccough /ˈhɪkʌp/;
ough, pronounced /oʊ/ as in though /ðoʊ/;
pt, pronounced /t/ as in ptomaine /ˈtoʊmeɪn/;
eigh, pronounced /eɪ/ as in neigh /neɪ/;
bt, pronounced /t/ as in debt /dɛt/;
eau, pronounced /oʊ/ as in bureau /ˈbjɜroʊ/.
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Source

Ok, completely opposite of simple, but interesting nonetheless :lol:.
 
PureAwesomeness
Something about this post doesn't sit right with me. I feel your pain about the 'your vs. you're' issue. It's one of my pet peeves too. But the turn of phrase 'difficult whatsoever' that you use twice doesn't sound correct to me. Surely 'difficult at all' would be more appropriate. In my experience 'whatsoever' usually comes after a noun e.g. 'He had no idea whatsoever'.

What do others think? If there is anyone out there as nerdy as me that is!
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Hahaha, cut me some slack, it was 1AM when I posted that (and this) and there was (and is) no excuse whatsoever for me to be up that late. :D
 
Another word problem is the plural form of Tomato or Potato. People will spell "Potatos" or "Tomatos" but it's actually Potatoes or Tomatoes. Or you can spell Potato like Daniel did. Yes, that was hardly simple.
 
"Accept" and "Except" are often confused.

"All of the cars in GT5 are highly detailed, accept the standard cars."

This implies that I have to accept that there are standard cars in GT5. The correct way would be...

"All of the cars in GT5 are highly detailed, except the standard cars."

Which means that the standard cars aren't highly detailed. Which would be correct.
 
There is never a context where utilize would be more grammatically or definitively accurate than use.

For the same reason I dislike the use of the "word" guesstimate, whereupon its employment makes you look less intelligent than using either derivative.
 
Reading that Ghoti article got me wondering: why is hiccough spelled like it is, when it's pronounced hiccup? Here in America that's how we spell it, because, well...we're American and we can do that. :D But really, for once our way really does seem more sensical. Surely I can't be the only one whose brain, when reading the word hiccough, thinks cough with a hic in front of it instead of hiccup.
 
Here is a simple one, not really a word but fits in this topic

GT4 and GTA4 or GT5 and GTA5

The amount of times i glance at a website and see GTa4 and click the link thinking its for Gran Turismo and i get all this Grand Theift news LOL.
 
Driving Park
Reading that Ghoti article got me wondering: why is hiccough spelled like it is, when it's pronounced hiccup? Here in America that's how we spell it, because, well...we're American and we can do that. :D But really, for once our way really does seem more sensical. Surely I can't be the only one whose brain, when reading the word hiccough, thinks cough with a hic in front of it instead of hiccup.
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-ough is a law unto itself.

"Hiccough" could be pronounced "hickoff", "hickuff", "hicko", "hickow", "hickoo", "hickor" or "hickuh". Possibly even "hickock" too if you're used to a more Gaelic language.
 
I do believe it was Noah Webster who pioneered America's deviation from Anglo-English spelling as part of the general movement to distance themselves from Europe during the 19th-C. He was responsible for America's spelling 'mom' (as opposed to 'mum') and 'donut' (instead of 'doughnut'); he, too, thought that the Anglo-English way of spelling was not logical for many words, such as you have described DP, but of course failed to incorporate what he thought were sensible changes to all words.
 

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