One of the joys of having an eponymous personal finance blog is I don’t ever feel compelled to ensure every article has to be about, well, personal finance.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking: but, Len, it says right there in the header that this is ‘The off-beat personal finance blog for responsible people.” That it is; just not today.
Nope.
Today I once again want to address a topic that touches everybody: spelling.
Last year I addressed parents that have trouble spelling their kids’ names. Today, I want to get introspective.
The reason I bring this up is because the other day my good friend, Geoff, better known to millions the world over as the Car Negotiation Coach, mentioned that he has trouble spelling my name.
I know; that’s what I thought too.
I mean really, just how hard is it to spell “Len Penzo” anyway? For some reason he always ends up spelling it “Len Pezo.” Really?
I mean, I could understand people having trouble if my name was Len Mxyzptlk, but it’s not. My last name is made up of five friendly letters that faithfully follow phonetic law.
Heh. Whatever.
Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on Goeff. After all, he confided to me that he also has trouble with a couple other words. Specifically, Jeff said that he is constantly misspelling negotiation and entrepreneur.
It was a genuinely honest admission from Jeoff that instantly resonated with me. It also inspired me to come clean regarding my personal spelling demons. Hopefully, by coming clean, I’ll inspire you to share some words that confound you every time too.
Now, I consider myself to be an excellent speller, but there are some words that I just can’t ever seem to get a handle on.
My biggest spelling demons are occasionally and personnel. For some reason I like to spell them as “occaisionally” and “personell.”
I also seem to have trouble with gauge, and I still don’t know if the drab color that lies in the dreaded no-man’s land between black and white is spelled “gray” or “grey,” although I see my spell-checker seems to prefer the former.
Some words I question even though I know how to spell them, like indefatigable. What I demand to know is if we spell fatigue with the letter “u,” how come indefatigable isn’t spelled “indefatiguable?”
Hey, don’t get mad at me; I didn’t make the rules. I’m just asking.
For their part, Answers.com lists 100 words that are hard to spell. I don’t agree with all of them; for example, owe. (Really? How else would you spell it?)
For the most part though, they do a good job calling out some really tricky-to-spell words like rhythm, embarrass, separate, occurrence, supersede, syzygy, and floccinaucinihilipilification. (I just added that last one to my spell-check dictionary.)
I know a lot of people have trouble spelling diarrhea.
Speaking of diarrhea, I recently discovered the Honeybee has trouble spelling Pepto Bismol. How do I know? Well, we’ve been married for almost 15 years and both times she put it on the shopping list, she managed to spell it “Pepto Bismo.”
The first time she did it – if I remember correctly, it was back in 2004 – I simply passed it off as a careless mistake. Last month, she did it again.
And while that’s certainly not a fair reflection on the quality of the education she received growing up, it does seem to suggest that my family has a very high tolerance for bad Mexican food. After all, two bottles of Pepto Bismol over a 15 year period ain’t too shabby.
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I’m kind of picky about spelling and love that Firefox underlines misspelled words so I don’t embarrass myself! I always spell restaurant incorrectly.
Love how you spelled Jeff/Geoff/Jeoff!
That’s why I type letters to friends. I keep on telling them, when someone invents a pen with a spell checker I’ll start writing real letters.
It is a weak mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. – Mark Twain
I love this quote
Love it!
In 4th grade, we had a class spelling bee and divided the class into two teams. I was the only one left on my team against three left on the other team. The teacher told me to spell gray. I spelled it g-r-e-y.
After a long consultation with the dictionary, she said I could stay in the bee. I ended up winning – my sole spelling bee victory in my 28 years of life.
How many times did you spellcheck and reread this post before putting it live?
I can never seem to spell guarantee the right way. That u screws me up every time. Now if I can throw a stone at another glass house, my biggest pet peeve is people who spell “lose” with two o’s. I hate that.
I can never get occasional or necessary right! I almost always spell “occasional” as “occassional” before spell check corrects me. Same with necessary. I wonder, “Is it too c’s or two s’s?” And same with harass. I just get confused about which letter it is that is repeated. Thank heavens for spell check!
Have you ever started to write a word and suddenly you can’t think how to spell it even though you’ve spelled it a million times in the past? Its rare, but it has happened to me and not just since I turned 50! I still remember one time I went to write the word “sure” and I started writing “sh” and thought, no, that’s not right. After a while I finally asked somebody and felt like a dork.
I’ll make another confession, I had to look up the word “eponymous”! So Leon, I wonder if I could categorize my blog as eponymous if I got people to call me the coach outside the context of my website?
Also, loved the story!
p.s. I got a kick out of how you track and date your wife’s spelling mistakes. I’ve got a “mental spouse ledger” of my own, but there are a few more debits in my column so I don’t dare share any entries
.
Sergeant is a killer. I always want to spell it seargent!
Cauliflower too.
I didn’t know what eponymous meant either, so don’t feel bad Geoff! lol
Here are two words that always trip me up…
leisure (I thought it was i before e?)
jewelry (It doesn’t seem right that we don’t spell it “jewelery”)
Great post!
I lost the 6th grade spelling bee on the word ‘misspell’. Isn’t that ironic? I came back to win in 7th grade though.
My biggest pet peeve is seeing ‘wierd’.
My personal demons are occasionally, embarrass, and a few others I can’t remember.
My real first name is Kirstin, and I cannot tell you how angry I am at my parents for naming me that. People always want to correct it and change it to Kristin. Or Kristen. I made sure I gave my kids nice, basic names.
@TSQ: I see. Tell the truth, now. Did you misspell “embarrass” and “misspell” before Firefox saved you?
For what it’s worth, I like the name Kirsten.
@Olivia: I know what you mean, but there is still no substitute for the personal touch of a hand-written note.
@Chanda: Great quote! Twain also wrote: “I don’t see any use in having a uniform and arbitrary way of spelling words. We might as well make all clothes alike and cook all dishes alike. Sameness is tiresome; variety is pleasing.”
@Tom: I would give it to you too! I swear I’ve seen it spelled “grey” before in other publications – although my spell checker insists I’m wrong. I have half a notion to add it to the dictionary anyway.
@Greg: LOL
@Shawna: I’ve been known to mess that one up on occasion myself.
@Red: Regarding harass, do you say HArass or HaRASS? I prefer the latter, myself – but I think that is the “blue-collar” way to say it. Another blue-collar pronunciation example is for the word “vase.” Blue-collar folk say “vace” while the snooty way to say it is “vaz.”
@Norman: Welcome to the dork club! That’s not as bad as it sounds. Some ladies actually like dorks. The Honeybee has been calling me a dork since before we got married. I’m fairly certain she didn’t marry me for the money.
@Coach: I’ve got a memory like a steel trap, Gef! I can remember things from when I was six months old. True. And thanks for inspiring the post! Your friend, Leon.
@Frank: Sergeant is a good one! Since I don’t like cauliflower I never have to write it down on a shopping list – so I can’t comment on that one.
@Pamela: You mean you never heard the entire rule? “I before e except before c – or when sounded as “a” as in neighbor and leisure.” I also use this rule every time I write a comment on Barbara Friedberg’s personal finance blog.
@Everyday: That is SO ironic I think you should tell it to Alanis Morrisette, since she seems to have trouble with the concept.
Zucchini took me a long time to get right.
I always misspell license. My mind is always telling me to swap the s and the c.
When writing an email about voting the other day I accidentally wrote “ballet” instead of “ballot”…oops!
Unfortuantely, unfortunately always gets me.
Embarrass and Occasionally are toughies to me. I used to always add another “c” to Vacuum, but I have that one down now.
Isn’t Geoff more complicated then Len? Just sayin’.
@MoneyFunk: zuchini is a good one! See, I just misspelled it! (And I refuse to correct it just to prove it.)
@Kendra: Yes. What’s confusing about “license” is that the c has the “ess” sound. So there are two “ess” sounds in the word, but in the first instance it uses the c and in the second it uses an s. Why not “lisense” or “licence?” English is such a wonderful language.
@Preston: I’d be less forgiving if you said you were writing about dance and wrote “ballot” instead of “ballet.”
@Evan: That is unfortunate.
@Kaye: I love the vacuum simply because of the double “u.” By the way, can you name the only word with three consecutive sets of double letters? It’s a fairly common word.
@Jenna:
Lynn, i occasionelly mispel a word, but it is usully a rear occurence. I don’t understend why everone likked this poste.
And i lik hend riten nots to, sinse my hendriten is so bad, nobodi nose how bad i spel!
Thanks, Dr. Dean. I bet the best thing about being a doctor is that your handwriting is probably so bad no one can tell when you misspell a word anyway!
Bookkeeper
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
As one that totally sucks at spelling I appreciate this post. I will forever remember the day I lost my first grade spelling bee with the word “ache” A-k-E, ake. Who the heck expects a 1st grader to pick up on the “ch” making a “k” sound! Come on <-still bitter
Ha ha, well Len it’s all related to personal finance. If you don’t have the details down pat with your life then it will all come back on your finances.
My spelling is pretty dire on my blog to be honest and I do really need to spruce that up as I can spell pretty well. Jewelry always gets me! And I constantly switch between UK and US spellings of words.
Lenn, your a grate writer and this was an innersting poast.
By the way, I actually recall a conversation with someone who also said/spelled Pepto Bismol the way your wife did. “Pepto Bismo” is what she said and how she thought it was spelled. Maybe it’s not so uncommon of a mistake?
How about marshmallow? I used to think it was spelled with an e until someone corrected me. I missed “mayonnaise” on a spelling bee, spelling it with just one n. “Judgment” is a pet peeve when people keep the e in it. It bothers me when I read and someone writes “anyways”, but if they say it, I’m okay with it. Uh, Pepto? I always thought it was spelled the way your wife spells it! I stand corrected again. I thought there was a jingle that went with that product, but then I remembered it was for alka seltzer instead…when kerplunk goes the tablet, that gives the fizz, for that feel better feeling that alka seltzer gives!
What about definitely?
Spelling was my forte in school. Then came the era of computers and now I’m not so special because everyone has a spell-checker!
I can’t say or spell “entrepreneur”. That’s my demon!
@Ninja: Scandalous! “Ache” doesn’t seem like a first grade word to me either. I assume you were the class clown so maybe teacher just had it in for you. LOL
@Forest: US vs UK spelling is a whole ‘nother topic! Talk about confusing. Personally, I think the US spelling makes more sense. For example, the “z” replacement for “s” is words like “realize.” I also like the elimination of the “u” in words like “color” and “neighbor.” And don’t get me started on the UK spelling of words like “maneuver!” LOL
@Squirrelers: You are right. When I questioned her, the Honeybee actually thought the stuff was called Pepto Bismo. I never paid attention closely to how she said it. She says she is still going to call it Pepto Bismo anyway. I can’t ever win with her.
@SandyE: Marshmallow is a good one! You got me to think of another one: wheelbarrow. I often see it spelled (and pronounced) “wheelbarrel.”
@Betty: Definitely.
@Kay Lynn: It is a cruel word – sometimes in more ways than one.
I used to be a great speller (in elementary school). Unfortunately that skill (along with my terrific volley ball talent) has gone down the toilet. Thanks for the mention of my blog and name
I bet you still have mad volleyball skills, Barb! It’s just like riding a bike. You just need to take your hubby out back and get him to serve you a few sets and you’ll be back to gold medal form in no time, Girlfriend!
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