Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spelling

spelling troubles: Master of Science vs. Master's of Science

figTree — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:22:09 -0800

Confused on spelling variations: Master of Science vs. Master's of Science. I am preparing some resumes, and found out that I have never needed to spell many varations of Master of Science.

I am confused about 2 points: the "'s" and the capitalization of Master

For example:

"I am currently finishing a Master of Science". I think this is wrong?

"I am currently finishing a Master's of Science" - is that right? or is it

"I am currently finishing a master's of science" (no capitalization)

Also, do thing become different when the sentence becomes:

"I am currently finishing a Master of Science degree". It seems to me in this case the possessive nature changes?

another case:

"I am pursuing a Master's degree" (or should it be a small m?")

If it makes a difference I am writing Canadian English.

very confused - thanks for the help.

ps: no i am not pursuing a Master's (master's?) degree in English :P

What the H?

Balonious Assault — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:25:15 -0800

I guess I know too many Saras and Sarahs, Teresas and Theresas, etc., because I find myself having a hard time remembering who spells their name which way. I know that people can become annoyed when their name is spelled incorrectly, so I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions for how to remember the correct spelling when someone has a common name with multiple possible spellings, without having to consult an address book every time I want to write or type their names. Thanks.

Long sleeve? Long-sleeved? Halp!

radioamy — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:35:20 -0800

Please hope me with this seemingly-basic English grammar/spelling question! Which is correct: "long-sleeve t-shirt" or "long-sleeved t-shirt"? Is there supposed to be a hyphen between "long" and "sleeve(d)? This keeps coming up at work and I can't find any online grammar resource that covers it. I was writing "long-sleeved" but several people corrected me*.

*I still think I'm right, but I need some concrete evidence. And if I'm wrong I'd certainly like to start writing it correctly!

More than one domino...

robotot — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:05:30 -0800

Spelling filter: Which is correct? "Dominoes" or "dominos"? Or is this one of those words that can be spelt either way? Is one correct, and the other just a result of a mispelt brand of pizza delivery? (or is that mispelled...now I'm second guessing everything!!!) Yes, I know it's trivial to use metafilter as a means of checking spelling, but wikipedia was not very useful.

Help me spell Burmese names correctly!

hazelshade — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:41:54 -0800

Spelling question involving names of people from Burma. (Or Myanmar, if you prefer dictatorial nomenclature.) How would you spell names that sound phonetically like the following:

- San Lai

- Ji

Thanks!

How do we speel check an entire web sight?

advicepig — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:06:08 -0800

How do we spell check (and link check) an entire web site? So I look after a number of sites and we're starting to consider how we spell check an entire web site. The site uses a content management system and a number of other applications that deliver content to the user. We have things in place to spell check in the editor window of the CMS, but we're looking at a way to crawl the site and report errors. If the toolset also did link checking and validation, we'd be even happier. Got any recommendations?

I want to be smart so I can write clever Askme Headlines

Bageena — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:45:34 -0800

What are some easy, relatively quick ways to learn to write better, think clearer, and express myself better? There are a thousand reasons that I'd like to learn more about everything, not that anyone should need a reason to want that. Basically, when I'm writing on Mefi or on my blog, I keep finding myself grasping for words to express myself and coming up short. I know my grammer stinks as well. I want books, movies, and other means and mediums by which I can raise my intelligence quota a little. I'm interested in not just learning to write better, but learning to think clearer, argue my beliefs and values better, and feel more enlightened all-around. Extra points for pointing the way to free and/or 'fun' (ie: Nintendo DS games) paths to enlightenment.

Why do I keep accidently typing homonyms instead of the actual word I meant?

public — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:37:32 -0800

Why do I keep accidently typing homonyms instead of the actual word I meant? e.g. Pear instead of Pair. Sometimes it gets worse and I write things which share even less in common like pardon and person. I've done this for ages now and then and only do it when I am typing quickly and conversationally, in a direct brain to keyboard sort of way.

The second example reminds me of that little meme that went around a while go that started "Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy..."

Does it have a convenient name like typo? Does anyone else do this?

Can you recommend any good print editions of Shakespeare in non-modernized orthography?

No-sword — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:05:39 -0800

Can you recommend any good print editions of Shakespeare in non-modernized orthography, priced for regular folks (not university libraries)? I don't necessarily want uncorrected reproductions of the text exactly as it appears in a given primary source. Editorial corrections and cobbled-together ur-texts are OK with me. I just want the end result to be spelt and punctuated Elizabethan-style. Martin Seymour-Smith's edition of the sonnets is a good example of what I'm after.

I'm really only interested in hold-in-your-hand printed books, although if you know any good online editions like this feel free to list them up for future Googlers.

At-home literacy and spelling help for seniors?

CKmtl — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:19:40 -0800

One of my neighbours has asked me for some advice and I'm pretty dumbfounded. A senior (~80yo) that she knows has said that he'd like to learn to write and spell, but she has no clue where to start. So, what resources are out there that could be of help? Some more info about the situation:

- The problem is mostly with the writing side of literacy (he can read and comprehend newspapers). He's more bothered by stuff like not being able to write words and sentences properly, not being able to tell if something he wrote is spelled incorrectly, etc.

- Undiagnosed dyslexia is a likely factor.

- He probably would not want to attend classes, because of bad experiences with teachers in the past.

- He has access to a computer and the internet, but he is not terribly computer/net-savvy. His keyboarding would be very hunt-and-peck. Software could be installed for him and he could be helped with learning how to use the programs, though.

- Nothing too childish, as he'd be a bit humiliated by that sort of thing.

- Freeware or free websites are preferable. Paying for software or books isn't completely out of the question, but they'd have to be on the inexpensive side. Fixed income and all that.

The answer is not in Help > Aboot.

avocet — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:12:34 -0800

Is there a way to make ArcGIS spell -meter like a Canadian? For example, inserting scale text pops out -meter, but I'd like to see -metre and sometimes -mètre. I know that I can subsequently convert these to graphics and edit the text from there, but is there any way to skip this step entirely by changing language or spelling settings within the program? Altering my XP language/international settings didn't do anything. Thanks in advance!

Are there singular/plural pairs in english with completely different spellings?

Crosius — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:41:58 -0800

In French, the singular of eye is "oiel" and the plural is "yeux." Are there any nouns in English that have completely different spellings of the singular and plural like this?

Non-English spelling bees?

strangeguitars — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:18:46 -0800

Do non-English-speaking countries hold spelling bees? Or is it unique to English because our spelling is so screwed that mastering it becomes a skill worthy of national competition?

HOW DO EXPRESS TEH IDEA OF MORE TAHN ONE BEATIN' ???

ignignokt — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:26:57 -0800

How do I pluralize a contraction that already ends with an apostrophe? I was just IMing with a friend and needed to pluralize the word beatin', which ends with an apostrophe. If I were to just add an s, I'd get:

beatin's

That looks like the possessive form of "beatin" and is totally wrong. Alternatively, I could put the apostrophe at the end, but that makes even less sense.

It's Tricky is the title, here we go...

streetdreams — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:53:11 -0800

Help me think of tricky spelling words to challenge my daughter! My 7-year-old daughter and I are working on spelling lessons. Mostly we've been working on word families and more basic stuff, but she's getting pretty good at those, so I'd also like to think of some harder words to give her.

What are some words that would be challenging for a second grader to spell? She tends to write things down the way they sound, so words like "people" that sound different than they're spelled would be especially good.

An H, or a H?

oxford blue — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:51:17 -0800

An hegemon or a hegemon? Which are right:

Blah blah Liberals* say or blah blah liberals say? (when referring to people within that school)

Blah blah Realism is or blah blah realism is? (when referring to the school itself)

I can has edumacation?

*As in the school within international relations.

Y Cant Kats Spel Gud?

L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:56:43 -0800

LOLcats teach us that cats can write, they just don't have very good spelling or grammar. The same idea has been used in advertising ("Eat Mor Chikin") and of course Far Side cartoons. Was Gary Larson the father of this concept, or were there other places where it was pervasive before he came along? There are some comics like Pogo and Krazy Kat where the characters spoke in dialect, but what I'm looking for is a bit different, comedy where animals as animals rather than as anthropomorphic human substitutes can write, but can't spell well.

What is the plural of "no"?

dzot — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:38:36 -0800

What is the plural of "no"? Example: You have to hear a hundred "nos" for every yes. What is the proper way to write "nos"?

Why does everyone spell Michael wrong (ie. put the e and the a the wrong way round)?

ranglin — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:49:47 -0800

LanguageFilter: Why does everyone spell Michael wrong (ie. put the e and the a the wrong way round)? We recently got a wedding invitation and discovered yet again that someone had decided that the way to spell my first name was 'micheal'. I got frustrated and told my wife 'nobody spells it that way'. A quick google search shows that occasionally it is spelled that way, but even google says "Did you mean to say: michael" and a search on wikipedia actually just redirects you to 'michael'.

So, my question to all you linguistic MeFi's is, why is this common name spelt incorrectly so often? Am I just deluded and the 'micheal' spelling is more common than I think, or do people just not know how to spell? I've never seen this kind of thing with other names, but I get it all the time with my name and it's driving me nuts!

Insights?

"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance"

nasreddin — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:44:17 -0800

I would like to know about the peculiarities in eighteenth-century writing. Specifically:

1. The swash S (in manuscript, it extends below the line, in print it resembles an f with the right part of the crossbar missing). What were the rules for using this, since both normal Ses and swash Ses were used? (e.g., the swash appears never to come at the end of a word) Why did it go out of style?

2. The German-like usage of capitals in certain nouns. I notice that toward the beginning of the century, and into the seventeenth, there were more different words in which this was used, and sometimes they were verbs or adjectives. Was this only for emphasis? Why did it stop?

3. The italicization of words referring to countries, e.g. "the English law."

4. The use of certain peculiar methods of abbreviation. Thus, "James" was frequently abbreviated to "Jas:" Normal words, especially in the first half of the century, were often abbreviated and the final letters added in superscript after the word, with a period under them. What's the origin of this style? Why did people stop doing it?

Spelling and punctuation became more regular and standardized toward the end of the century. What forces influenced this process?

(I am aware that these uses were common before the eighteenth century too)

I never give congratulations in restaurants...

allkindsoftime — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:34:50 -0800

Spelling filter: Why do I ALWAYS struggle with the same few particular words? I realize the question is *similar* to here, and here, all of which I enjoyed reading, but never found much related to my *specific* question...(bear with me)

I can't spell "restaraunt." I want to put the "u" after the second "a," not the first, and its ALWAYS been this way. As much as I concentrate on this word, I can't get it right, every time I want to type it I have to pause and think really hard (basically think through most of what I've typed up to this point), and only then can I get it right.

There are a few other words I consistently mis-spell. In particular: congratulations (default: congradulations - replacing the "t" with a "d"), also refrigerator (default: refridgerator - inserting an unnecessary "d"). These are the primary words I can't get, although there may be a couple others. Its only a few, though, and generally a similar problem as above - I get all/most of the right letters in the word, but not in the right places, and usually its just one letter that's transposed to the wrong place. I have almost zero trouble with the "i" before "e" rule, it generally seems random as to whether it happens with consonants or vowels.

I write a lot, consider myself pretty damn good with spelling and grammar over all (I haven't had to go back and correct one word yet in this question, for instance), but I still can't spell restaurant. There, that time I concentrated as I wrote it.

So, finally, my questions:

A) Is there a term for this? I don't think I have any kind of dyslexia or anything like that, but who knows - maybe a mild form?

B) Does this happen to anyone else? If so, with what words?

C) Is there any hope for ever being able to type restaurant or congratulations without thinking about it, like I do for 99% of the other words that are germane to my daily vocabulary?

met+a+filter Chain Words and Chain Letters

snailer — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:17:03 -0800

Is there a name for these kind of words, and what is the longest one? This is another instance where google is chock full of results for another meaning of this phrase, and it's difficult to find a good relevant answer. I searched for chain words, chain letters etc.

Is there a name for a word that is created by adding a letter onto another word? What is the longest word that exists that each iteration is a valid word? For the sake of argument, it doesn't have to reduce to a valid one letter word.

e.g.

tools=

to + o = too
too + l = tool
tool + s = tools

or ideal

i
i + d = id
id + e = ide (ides of March)
ide + a = idea
idea + l = ideal

I hope that's enough to go on. Apologies if this has been asked and answered previously, I just can't seem to find the answer!

I'm your head, messing with your speling!

The Behatted Wild Man of Greenfield — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:39:40 -0800

Why do I have to work so hard at spelling and writing? To better explain what I mean, I wrote this post and then had to go back and edit it. I've left notes in paretheses (ooops, meant parentheses) to show examples.

Ok, when spelling or writing and sometimes thinking (oops meant to use the word speaking), I seem to have to work extra hard to sound half way intelligent.

I can't "hear" words. Seriously, if a word is produced (oops, meat pronounced) that I don't know, I can't spell it without methodically sounding (it) out aloud. I'm 31 this year, college educated and self confident and this has been a consistent thing since puberty. If I see the unknown word after its been pronounced, I completely understand who (oops meant to write how) and why it's spelled the way it is. But hearing? I'm thrown into some wierd blank spot (wanted to write limbo, but couldn't remember how to spell it) where I can't figure out the spelling without having to consciously think about it.

As to writing, I consistently leave words outta sentences. It's like I'm composing the sentence so fast in my head that my fingers can't keep up, be it typing or handwriting or even speaking (I sometimes stumble over words). Not only that but I often transpose words or letters. For instance, I might tranpose "late tasks" to "tate lasks" while speaking. Stress seems to make this work. My dad has similiar tendencies and called it a mild form of dylexicia
(oops, dyslexia). Does this even exist?

Is this common? Is there a study that's been down (um, done) on people like this? Are there techniques that have helped people (like) this?

I am a introverted visual artist and good creative writer. I have the same problem hearing musical notes and have to work hard playing the guitar or singing, but I can tell what (meant when) I'm outta pitch and match pitches, so I'm not tone deaf.

Forgive me for rambling, but all of this seems interlated and lately it's been driving (me) nuts. I want to improve and at least look and sound as intelligent as I know I am. At this point I have to edit every damn thing I write, no matter how simple it easy (it is), in order to not sound like an idiot.

What's the deal with EVERYTIME?

(bb|[^b]{2}) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:12:47 -0800

What's the deal with "everytime?" Is it one word or two? If it IS two words, why doesn't it follow suit with everybody, everyone, everyday, everything, and everywhere? I've always spelled it as one word, but now I'm starting to feel self-conscious about it...

nixon's last mistake?

krautland — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:40:56 -0800

nixon's last mistake? hivemind,

nixon's resignation letter is being flashed all over tv again these days, for obvious reasons, and it reminded me of something that has bugged me for quite some time.

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States.

shouldn't it be I hereby resign from the Office? said office did after all still exist sans nixon.