Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spelling

Converting a US-formatted Microsoft Word document to UK formatting?

dhens — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:28:48 -0800

Is there a way (a macro perhaps?) to change the spellings and punctuation in a Microsoft Word document (.docx) from "American" style to "British" (or should I say, 'British') style in one fell swoop? I have a manuscript which I wrote to submit to an American academic journal in the humanities. After being rejected by this journal, I am looking to submit it to a British journal. This latter journal wants UK spellings and punctuation -- that is, single quotation marks ('like this') for main quotes and double quotation marks (I said, 'John told me "be careful" as he was walking away') for nested quotes.

The spelling should be fairly easy to change -- just set the language to English (UK) and American spellings like "color" and "center" and such will get red squiggly underlines. For the punctuation, however, I find myself in a bind. Ctrl+F/Replace is not an option for several reasons:

Let's say I replace all double quotation marks (") with single quotation marks ('). If I then try to change single quotation marks to double, I will end up changing all of things I just changed to single quotes back to double quotes! Also, all of the apostrophes I have in the manuscript would end up being changed to double quotation marks.

I am using Microsoft Office 2007 on Windows 7.

Thanks!

Resources to improve spelling and grammar?

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:43:26 -0800

What resources would you recommend for an adult who is a native English speaker who nonetheless struggles with grammar and spelling? I'm asking on the behalf of my boyfriend, who dropped out of middle school, and is also dyslexic. He asked if I had a book or website to recommend, but most of what I could find is geared towards kids or people learning English as a second language. He already feels insecure about all this, so recommending an ESL book seems really patronizing. He even acts sheepish asking me about grammar or how to spell something, so something he can pursue on his own would be ideal (even though I'm happy to help and don't judge him whatsoever).

How do I deal with an incident of screwed-up spelling?

gregb1007 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:15:09 -0800

How do I deal with an incident of screwed-up spelling? I was recently asked to type a letter in a language that I haven't written in in a while. As I was typing the very short text being dictated to me, I made two grievous spelling mistakes that mostly had to do with me writing the words "phonetically," or as I heard them sound by sound. As I actually do know how to spell these words correctly, I am fairly confident this won't happen the next time I write. (Though of course, such mistakes can recur.) The problem is I feel that I damaged my reputation as someone who can spell correctly in that language. The family member who asked me to type the text this time won't ask me again for several months. I can write in that language as much as I wish on my own time in other contexts, but I am haunted by the fact that the impression of my incompetence will persist in that family member's mind. I should like to add that this person shares their thoughts about my skills in family conversations. I have had her judgments reported back to me by others even if what was concerned were trivial matters. Note: I know it might be silly for me to be worrying about this, but I would appreciate it if people could trust my spelling skills in that language.

Pat, I'd like a P, B, F, T, L, S... ?

mochapickle — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:49:36 -0800

In a story I'm writing, one character (an old lady) blows a raspberry at another character at the very end of a scene. I'd like to indicate this sound as a direct quote. What's the proper way to spell this?

i before e, except after c.. and also v?

royalsong — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 06:20:47 -0800

Looking for new ways to learn to spell specific words. and possibly to make it sink into my head when you use "then" vs "than". I have never been, and will never be, the world's best speller. But, my ability to spell has improved dramatically since I started doing a lot of typing.

I still have some words that trip me up. Some of the following is just an example:

Reveal (I want to spell it "Reveil")
Horrible (Horriable)
Terrible (Terrable)

As I'm sure you can tell, I am a phonetic speller. To me, the "veal" in reveal sounds like the veil of a dress and not the meal. This is reenforced by the fact that to reveal something, you often show it off, aka to unveil it. Not cook a nice dinner again.

One way I've been able to combat this was to set a login password to the correct spelling, which forced me to learn it.

I was hoping there was a program out there, or even a android app, that would randomly pop up and ask me how to spell a word from a list I give it. (Or possibly some "most commonly misspelled words" list)

related question: I never ever use "than". Any time I am saying something happened after something else, I always use then. I never even stop to think about it. I know there's little memory sayings you can tell yourself, but when you don't even stop to think.. how do you remember to say the sayings?

Is there a medical term for my spelling goofs?

sherlockt — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:44:09 -0800

I am finding lately that as I type things in a hurry I'm increasingly misspelling common words. Is there a name for this oddity? Examples inside. I'm a decent speller and writer and have always been good at dashing off e-mails, documents, etc. However, lately I find I'm making some weird goofs that have me concerned. A few examples:

"He left early today to exercise at the jim."
"I hope they find a cure for that rare desease."
"Do you know which horse won the horserase?"

I notice these mistakes right after I type them, but it concerns me that proper spelling is no longer rolling off of my fingertips. Is there any kind of medical term that describes when a person begins to make these substitutions?

I need to reëxamine my love of the New Yorker's editorial department.

deathpanels — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:16:26 -0800

What the heck is up with the New Yorker's umlauts? The New Yorker employs this really strange spelling for English words that repeat a vowel. For instance, every other publication in the world would use the spelling "cooperate" or "co-operate", but the New Yorker would spell it "coöperate".

Wikipedia says this is a case of diaeresis, but why on earth does the New Yorker do this when no one else in the anglophone world uses this spelling? It particularly bugs me that this story is formatted to use the New Yorker's preferred spelling, but it totally clashes with the voice and diction of the author and in my opinion distracts from the writing. I realize the New Yorker is pretentious ("it's the New Yorker"). But come on! Is there some history around that publication's use of the umlaut? Help me penetrate this editorial mystery.

Can kids spel?

wilful — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:13:16 -0800

Is there any evidence that literacy (particularly spelling) standards of attainment have dropped in recent times, in the Anglosphere? Looking for citable evidence only.

Crying over spilt milk, or is it spilled?

patheral — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:44:39 -0800

Do we cry over spilt milk or spilled milk? My spell checker says the latter but I remember the former. Back in my younger days, my friends and I dove into the water. Yesterday, the kids would have dived into the pool. As a child, I spilt my juice on the table. Last night, my fiance spilled his soda on the floor. In my schooldays, my twin would have spelt something wrong. A few days ago, my grandson would have spelled a word wrong. At my school, busses lined up in front of the school. Today buses line up in front of the school.

I think you see where I'm going with this. Now I'm all for language changing, but it's as if I turned around and someone switched the rules on me when I wasn't looking. So my question is twofold: can you think of any other words that have changed like dove:dived, spilt:spilled, spelt:spelled, busses:buses?

Also, I always thought that written language change was a slow process, but I'm only 45 and that doesn't seem time enough for such changes to take place. Is it the computer age that brought about such rapid change? I'm curious.

New spelling, new root?

meinvt — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:42:02 -0800

I'd like to check if changed spellings are changed words. For a commercial oproject I have in mind, I want to be able to compare to words and see if the spellings are versions of the same word or not. For example age can become ages and aged and it is the same root, but garbage is a new word. Conventional dictionaries show this by listing prefixes and suffixes for words, but online dictionaries I've found are all just exhaustive lists of spellings. Are there dictionaries that exist electronically structured as root plus legal suffixes and prefixes? As noted, for commercial use, but we may be able to pay licensing.

I need hard to spell words from Star Wars.

Sully — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:20:35 -0800

I'm organizing a Star Wars themed spelling bee. I need as many hard to spell Star Wars words as possible. They can be nouns, etc. It's a fun event, and we are not following strict rules about it. Already have "Kashyyyk" and "Sarlaac" and "wookiee".

Are ten-year-olds everywhere tormented with spelling tests?

catesbie — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:58:06 -0800

Do spelling bees or tests exist in languages other than English? A two-part question about language. Firstly: do spelling bees (or spelling tests) exist in non-English languages? I'm thinking it's probably fairly pointless in a really phonetic language - but are there languages besides English where being able to spell correctly is enough of a skill to be worth testing?

Anyway, thinking about this has also got me to a second question: if spelling isn't much of a challenge, do other languages have public competitions similar to spelling bees that test kids' understanding of something that IS a complicated part of their language? Verb-conjugation bees? Noun-declension bees? Distinguish-the-meaning-of-these-otherwise-identical-tonal-words bees?

Thanks!

Should "library" be capitalized?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:28:38 -0800

Should "library" be capitalized? I know we've got our fair share of information professionals and educators here, so please, I implore you, your opinion!

My boss corrects everything so Library is capitalized. This does not just include "Welcome to Smithington College Library!" but also:

Some Library resources you may find useful are...

Call us or stop in to the Library and ask about...

We do not consider this a quiet Library...

etc.

It seems old-fashioned (as an aside, I am also not allowed to use contractions in any instructional materials!) if not plain incorrect. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

Mom: Spell bed. Child: B-A-D. Mom: Not bad, bed. Child: B-A-D. Mom: Ok, we'll try again later.

Soda-Da — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:18:25 -0800

How do you teach a 6-year old to recognize vowels in the middle of a word? Ask him to spell 'bed' out loud and he will say 'b-a-d.' Ask him to write 'bed' and he will write 'b-a-d.' Yet if he reads 'bed' out loud, he will say it correctly and he knows what it is. Any tools or techniques that will help him learn? He does this with other words, not just bed. His mom showed him the different shape your mouth makes when you pronounce a short 'a' vs. a short 'e' but it didn't make a difference.

The child is my friend's son. He is in first grade in the US and English is his first language. His hearing is fine and he has no known attention-deficit or learning issues. The parents are going to discuss this with the teacher but, for now, they are stumped on how to help him. And what do you even call what he's doing? I'm sure educators would not call it "mixing up vowels."

Goodby to all that

Admiral Haddock — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:05:40 -0800

When (and why/how) did "good-by" fall out of use as an variant on "goodbye"? Goodbye, as is somewhat commonly known, is a contraction of "God be with ye." Cite.

Through the middle part of the 20th century, one encounters "good-by" as an accepted alternate spelling. See, e.g., Robert Frost, Good-by and Keep Cold (1920), John D. MacDonald, The Deep Blue Good-by (1964), but also earlier Emerson, Good-by (1899) and plenty other examples on Google Books.

I don't have OED access, sadly--Fowler's suggests that "good-by" is an Americanism, but doesn't add further commentary. This is consistent with the examples above.

When did this spelling fall out of general acceptance? People may still be using it, but MS Word, for instance, thinks it's a misspelling. Was there a style/usage guide or dictionary published in the 1960s/70s that was a fulcrum for change in orthography, or is this just the product of gradual development languages are always undergoing?

Do Americans call Lego "Legos"?

bicyclefish — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:42:17 -0800

An American friend tells me that Lego is commonly referred to as "Legos" in the States. Is this true? I am a Canadian who very much enjoyed his Lego as a child. An American friend (from Milwaukee, to be precise) tells me that in the States, they call them "Legos."

I've long been aware that many people add the "s," even though the proper branding is without an 's.' I had always thought that it was just a saying-it-right / saying-it-wrong-(but-who-cares) divide. But now I'm wondering: Is this a national divide? Is Legos-with-an-s actually an Americanism?

Spelling...Sometimes It Hurts

26.2 — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:41:42 -0800

Is the correct spelling in sync or in synch? I can't listen to this disagreement any longer. Is there a definitive source that indicates that either spelling is correct?

Spelling Post Approval

unliteral — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:38:49 -0800

I can't find a definitive answer on the use of 'post' as a prefix. In particular with 'post approval' meaning 'after approval'. The only reference I have handy is a Reader's Digest Great Illustrated Dictionary (1984) [I know! but it has such nice pictures] which says:

In forming compounds, post- is now usually joined with the following elements without space or hyphen. However, if the second element begins with a t or capital letter, it is separated with a hyphen.

In the absence of any other authority, I'm leaning towards 'postapproval' but it seems a bit awkward. So does anyone have a cite for, 'postapproval', 'post approval' or 'post-approval'?

The spelling of Popeye's laugh

flashboy — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:38:14 -0800

How do you spell Popeye's laugh? Is there a specific way of writing Popeye's laugh that goes beyond 'ahahaha' (which doesn't really do it justice)? Anything official in scripts or reference books? Does anybody have a style guide on this thing? Any phonetics experts want to have a go?

Some reference material.

Stellar Spellers?

TrarNoir — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:50:24 -0800

How can I make a spelling bee for a group of adult professionals the most fun ever? Next Wednesday is in-service day for faculty at my small community college. When I was asked to present a break-out session, I decided we should play a big game instead of talking about Blackboard or "authentic" assessment for the millionth time. I am having a mini spelling bee, and I would like to hear your ideas for making it light and fun.

Some important facts:
The session is 50 minutes long.

The participants will be community college faculty and possibly administration.

I expect about 20 people.

This day is usually boring and grueling, so people are expecting to have their souls crushed. Breakout sessions are supposed to be for professional development, but this is just for fun. I'm surprised it was approved, actually.

I know many people hate spelling, but I've had enthusiastic responses so far.

Ideas I already have:
The idea of participating alone will be freaky to some people, so I thought I'd have two big teams compete against each other.

In addition to having regular spelling words, I thought I'd include some more gimmicky challenges. Spelling backwards, spelling with a partner, and spelling the names of other coworkers are ideas I have had.

Prizes!

At the beginning and/or throughout, I could show brief, funny videos related to spelling.

I would love to hear all of your ideas to make this a great time. Do you know of any good resources? What other challenges could I use? What would make great prizes? Are there any good video clips I could use?

Does the spelling matter much on a car title?

amtho — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:08:08 -0800

Slight misspelling of bank's name on my car title - pursue fix or let it go? My credit union just forwarded to me the title of my car (small yay). The name of the "first lienholder" is "LGE COMMUNIYT CR UN" -- communiyt instead of community. Since the whole bank name is sort of approximated, I'm guessing the slight and obvious misspelling isn't an issue -- is it?

There is a good chance I will sell my Mazda3 sometime in the next couple of years.

The credit union is based in Georgia, the title is issued by the State of North Carolina (where I live), and the full name of the credit union is LGE Community Credit Union.

They are awesome, in case anyone is looking for a credit union.

I'll dicule you twice!

EtzHadaat — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:37:30 -0800

Is "rediculous" an acceptable spelling? When I searched for it here, all I got were people using the word "rediculous" like a normal word, and this is Metafilter! I googled and googled and I could only find references to it being a typo, but it's so common I'm beginning to doubt myself. How do misspellings become alternate spellings, and is there a resource I could use to find out?

Define: Quo Vadimus

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 08:48:35 -0800

Any Latin scholars out there? I'm getting a tattoo and just want to make sure it means what I think it means... Quo vadimus Spelled correctly? Definition? (Where are we going?)

Anonymous because family members read mefi and they don't know I'm getting another tattoo :)

Cooky Cookies

Joe Chip — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 22:30:04 -0800

When did the spelling of 'cookie' change from 'cooky'? I got an old 'cooky' press from my grandmother that looks like it is from the 1950's. When did the conventional spelling change from 'cooky' to 'cookie'?

Me doesn't spel or write two good.

2legit2quit — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:15:31 -0800

Is there such a thing as an "advanced" spelling and grammar program for Microsoft Word or WordPerfect? Bonus points if it is designed for the legal world. I am a young associate attorney that suffers from an occasional grammar or spelling mistake. Most of these mistakes are the result of trying to work quickly and not proofreading carefully or mistakes that already exist in a document that I do not catch. It is very embarrassing when a document is about to be signed or presented and someone happens to catch one of the errors.

Obviously, more time and careful proofreading is the remedy, but sometimes due to the sheer volume of documents or time considerations, that just isn't practicable.

Are there any programs that more accurately catch misspelled words and grammar mistakes and are compatible with Microsoft Word of WordPerfect?