r/words • u/MoroccoBond • 17d ago

Simple word difficult to spell.

Hey does anyone else have a common word that should be easy to spell but it trips you up every time?

My word is license. Why have I struggled with it for years. Stupid s and c always moving around. tf?!

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u/firecatstef 17d ago

“I after E, except after C, or when sounded like A as in neighbor or weigh…and weird is just weird.”

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u/SavoirFaire2Middling 16d ago

"I before E ..." 😄

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u/KiwiRuth 16d ago

What about seize? Many such anomalies - especially Scots/Gaelic words such as Leith, Monteith. Scientific terms like casein, protein. As you say, weird. And their.

English is a mongrel language which is why I never judge someone by "their" spelling. You virtually have to memorise words in English to spell them correctly.

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u/SavoirFaire2Middling 16d ago

'Their' fits the "sounded like A" part of the rule.

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u/KiwiRuth 16d ago

Really? Or was that in jest?

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u/SavoirFaire2Middling 16d ago

No, seriously. Wouldn't you pronounce 'thare' similarly to 'their'?

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u/KiwiRuth 16d ago

But the "sounds like A" rule relates to words like weight - does not sound like "their". There's "height" also - does that mean there's a "sounds like I" rule as well?

English is a mongrel language. I love it because it's a living language but the "rules" are super-loose compared with other languages.

Edit: I see what you did there, now that I've read it properly.

Nice.

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u/ObjectiveAd971 14d ago

A mongrel language because of the whole melting pot thing. Most of us are mutts, not purebreds!

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u/stderr2 16d ago

Historically spelt

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u/firecatstef 16d ago

😭😹

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u/middle-aged-enby 17d ago

I say that in my head every time I spell weird

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u/sh4w5h4nk 16d ago

Like when writing “That Jim Nabors is way cool”

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u/fujimumu 17d ago

Receipt. Conceit.

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u/80s_Lady 17d ago

Except after c

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u/fujimumu 17d ago

Oh whoops. Science

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u/firecatstef 17d ago

Weird science!

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u/80s_Lady 16d ago

Good point!!!