Avoiding spelling mistakes – more eggcorns

Sometimes when we write Thai English in academic research papers and theses, if we understand why we make certain errors, we can avoid making the same mistakes in future.

Thammasat University students of linguistics may have heard of the term eggcorn. This was named by a linguist after the incorrect spelling of the common English word acorn, the single seed, inside a tough shell, of the oak tree or other trees. If we do not read a word frequently and do not have a good memory of how it looks when it is printed, then we must rely on how it sounds. Writers of Thai English often do this when they use technical vocabulary in academic writing that they may have heard an ajarn say in a seminar. So we try to guess the spelling of a word based on how we think it may be pronounced. Naturally, there are many problems with this approach, and it often goes wrong, since the pronunciation of the word may not have been in standard English or American speech. Even if it was in standard English or American speech, spelling of words often cannot be guessed by the way they are pronounced.

However, students and other writers of Thai English for academic purposes should not worry too much, because linguists enjoy eggcorns. They consider them lively and original examples of the way our brains try to make sense of the problem of language. If we have no idea of how the word acorn looks and we hear it pronounced, we may try to include a familiar word that we are sure exists, egg, even though that turns out to be incorrect. In an English class, that spelling would be marked as wrong, but in a linguistics class, an ajarn might appreciate it.

Also, eggcorns are written by native English speakers as well, not just by writers of Thai English. Anyone trying to write a word who is not sure about the spelling can write an eggcorn. Since it happens often, we may avoid feeling embarrassed or ashamed if we make this type of error, and look on it as part of a game of language.

By looking at other examples of eggcorns, we can see how our minds or the minds of other writers work when we spell words. Also we may keep in mind that the best way to be sure about how words are spelled is to read a lot in English, and also to use spell check programs and Google words whenever we are not certain, to get quick answers.

Some examples

Here are a few examples of commonly seen eggcorns. If we learn to recognize these errors, then it should be easier to avoid them.

Some people who mean to write the word butterfly mistakenly write a wrong spelling, flutterby, instead.  A butterfly may be described as fluttering by, since to flutter means to fly unsteadily or hover by flapping wings quickly and lightly.

There is a legend that the origins of the word butterfly are in the words flutter and by. However, lingusis agree that this is not true. The word butterfly is in fact very old, dating back over one thousand years.

It is possible that the word butterfly may have something to do with the way butterflies have been seen as attracted to butter and other milk products.

Some writers of English may spell the word frustrated wrong as flustrated.

To be frustrated means to be prevented from accomplishing something that one wishes to do. The word originates from a Latin term meaning to be disappointed or to try to do something in vain.

If we are frustrated, we may feel flustered, or agitated and confused. Those writers who create the eggcorn flustrated are making an incorrect term by combining the two standard words frustrated and flustered.

When we write about a laptop computer, sometimes we mistakenly spell the word labtop.

As all TU students know, the words laptop, tablet, and notebook are used to describe a portable computer. The term laptop appears to have been first used in the early 1980s to describe a computer that could be used on the writer’s lap, even though we known that manufacturers do not advise keeping a computer on anyone’s lap, because it can reach high temperatures.

The term notebook began to be used after manufacturers produced even smaller portable devices than laptops. People who make the mistake of creating an eggcorn by writing labtop instead of laptop may use their laptop in a laboratory or lab, and so they naturally associate the words. Also they may have forgotten or never knew the apparent word origin for laptops, involving the word lap.

If we think of putting a laptop on our laps, then we are less likely to forget its true spelling and write it as labtop by mistake.

Since no word labtop exists, at least if we write this incorrectly, our Word spell check programs should let us know by underlining the word in red. Still, we may overlook this warning, so it is better not to make the mistake to begin with, if possible.

In a similar way, we sometimes see the eggcorn lapkin, which is the wrong way of writing the common English word napkin. As we know, a napkin is a square piece of cloth or paper used at a meal to wipe the fingers or lips and to protect clothes from food stains. The word napkin derives from Latin terms, meaning small tablecloth.

Because many people keep a napkin in their laps when they are eating meals, they may relate the word napkin to their laps, and so join the words together to wrongly form the eggcorn lapkin. Once again, since there is no English word lapkin, it should be possible to be altered about this error by Word document spell checks. As we know, there are occasions when we must write a text in English without a spell check, for example in an email.

In such cases, to improve our chances of getting the spelling right, we may wish to write a first draft of any message on a Word document and benefit from the spell check program, to see if any errors exist, before we cut and paste the message onto an email.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)