Write Right, Part 2

How is that Spelled?

Dash off an email to a client. Tap out a quick text message to a colleague. Jot down some notes in Messenger and send it to a direct report. Forward a key piece of information about a deal to a coworkers with a comment. The speed of business is accelerating, and people are communicating more than ever… and we’re in a bigger hurry than ever to click “send”. Communication tools abound and we use them all. WhatsApp. Messenger. Email. Text. Slack. With a click, messages are sent by professionals with no way to take them back… even when they’ve made an egregious error. 

Business executives can’t just stop writing. And few can afford to have a dedicated personal assistant – and an expert writer no less — follow them around taking dictation and writing messages for them. There really is no other choice except to write better. Spelling is an easy area to fix. If kids, participating in the Scribbs Spelling Bee over the last few years, can learn to spell words like marocain (2017 winner), koinonia (2018 winner), auslaut (2019 winner), and muraya (2021), then surely successful executives and professionals can learn how to spell common words. Let’s look at the ones most often misspelled and get it right once and for all.

Words Often Misspelled

Here are words that people commonly misspell in business. If you learn these, you’re likely to cut your communication errors by half.

Here is a rule that’s easy to remember and helps with the spelling on a few of these:
I after E except after C, or when ending in Eigh as in Neighbor and Weigh.

Malapropism: Right Word, Wrong Use

To misspell a word makes a person look careless. But to misspell a word because you meant to write a similar word is worse. These are words that are wrong simply because they are confused with one another. This is known as a malapropism… when an incorrect word is used in a sentence that sounds like the correct word but means something completely different. The word used is spelled correctly but not used correctly… and that points to a lack of knowledge or education. And this type of mistake is hard to catch since spell-check will not flag these. For these, it is important to really learn how to use the word in context. Here are 20 common malapropisms to avoid.

advise (verb – to guide; to instruct) advice (noun – recommendation)
affect (to influence) effect (the outcome)
arc (curve; rising peak) arch (curved doorway or portico)
borough (neighborhood) bureau (department; chest)
calendar (almanac)   colander (strainer)
conscious (awake; mindful)   conscience (morality)
desperate (frantic; hopeless)    dispirit (disheartened)
ensure (safeguard; confirm)   insure (indemnify; underwrite)
flout (openly disregard)   flaunt (display ostentatiously)
founder (someone who starts something)  flounder (sink or fail completely)
further (to a greater degree)  farther (more physical distance)
jive (popular kind of music)   jibe (to be in accord; agree)
monotonous (repetitive; boring) monogamous (exclusive committed relationship)
mute (silent; unable to speak) moot (disputable; unlikely)
precedent (standard; instance)    president (leader; commander)
preposition (part of speech showing direction) proposition (proposal; offer)
prophecy (prediction)         prophesy (to foretell)
petrified (frightened; fossilized)   putrified (advanced state of decomposition)
squarely (head-on; exactly)   squirrelly (eccentric)
thorough (comprehensive)       through (done; across)

Making Writing Even Harder:  Homophones, Homonyms and Homographs

The English language further complicates things because there are often words that sound the same but have various meanings, or spelled the same but have different meanings, as well as words that are spelled and sound alike but have different meanings.  That really makes it even harder to write right.  Here are the rules.

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings or derivation or spelling.  Here are a few examples, but not an exhaustive list: 

• to, two, and too
• weigh and way
• there, their and they’re
• mail and male
• principal and principle
• guarantee and guaranty
• beet and beat
• peak, peek, and pique

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently and have a different meaning.  Here are some examples, but not an exhaustive list:  

• tear (to rip a paper) and tear (salty water from the eye)
• bass (fish) and bass (musical instrument)
• attribute (belonging to) and an attribute (quality).
• the bow (end of a ship) and bow (shot with an arrow)
• buffet (to hit or slap) and buffet (self-serve food bar)
• content (contained inside something) and content (happy)
• minute (small) and minute (60 seconds)

Homonyms are words that are spelled and sound alike but have different meanings.  For example:

• deed (title on a property) and deed (an action)
• mouse (rodent) and mouse (computer device)
• bank (edge of river) and bank (financial institution)
• address (location) and address (to speak to)
• band (a musical group) and band (a ring)
• bright (intelligent) and bright (filled with light)
• mean (average) and mean (not nice)
• spring (season) and spring (coiled metal)

For those who wonder, does spelling really matter?  Who cares if some words are occasionally misspelled?  It matters, especially for business professionals.  Here’s why.  If we care about our language, which is a huge part of how we communicate, we must maintain standards and do our best to spell correctly.  There are already too many words in the English language that can be confused with other words.  No need to add to the muddle. It can be difficult to understand what someone means if they haven’t paid attention to writing correctly. Incorrect spelling can even lead to serious mistakes being made. 

Just imagine how serious the consequences could be if a doctor (a profession notoriously known for bad handwriting) misspelled a patient’s notes and wrote that they needed to replace the ileum (small intestine) instead of the illium (hip bone).  What if you were the patient?  Or what if a business exec wrote an email to an investor that his partner “was squirrely on point” instead of “squarely on point”?  That could be embarrassing or even damaging.  We write to communicate clearly.  And, being able to do that well reflects education and professional acumen.  So make sure to write right.

Quote of the Week

“When our spelling is perfect, it’s invisible. But when it’s flawed, it prompts strong negative associations.” Marilyn vos Savant

© 2022, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.

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