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.

One example of an eggcorn is to write mistakenly optical delusion instead of optical illusion, the correct idiomatic expression in English.

An optical illusion is an caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception that seems to be different from reality.

The noun illusion derives from a Latin term meaning to play with or trick. The adjective optical originates in a Greek word meaning to be seen.

Here are some usage examples for the term optical illusion:

• A widely circulated picture of a striped dress that appears to be of different colours is an “optical illusion”, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists of Thailand (RCOPT) has said. Photos of the dress have become a Internet sensation because to some the dress appears to be blue and black, while others see it as white and gold. “It’s just the lighting and two colours being put together. In such circumstances, personal experiences play a role in how each person interprets these colours,” RCOPT president Dr Paisan Ruamviboonsuk said yesterday. He said humans do not process colours simply based on what they receive from photoreceptors. “The brain will process the input, which is why personal experiences are different,” the ophthalmologist said.

• Twenty leading Thai designers bring their magic to the international audience at Bangkok International Fashion Week. Visitors to the City of Angels got a big boost last week as international fashion bloggers and media representatives from the US, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore jetted into town to attend Bangkok International Fashion Week 2015 (BIFW2015).Hosted by Siam Paragon and Siam Center in collaboration with Digital Fashion Week Singapore at Parc Paragon, the event showcased the latest collections by 20 prominent Thai designers and provided those without tickets the chance to enjoy a real-time broadcast of all 11 shows with reruns at SiamParagon.co.th/bifw2015… Painkiller, which was created by siblings Poomsak, Terawat and Siriorn Teankaprasith, presented its “Optical Illusion” collection, using several techniques to add the optical illusion to two-dimensional pictures. The brand chose clean and simple silhouettes to bring out the prints and details and added a hint of blue to its mainly black-and-white palette to bring liveliness to the collection.
• A Japanese professor is behind the snazzy illusion on Lady Gaga’s new album cover. What’s the relationship between US diva Lady Gaga and a Japanese professor in psychology? The answer is: Lady Gaga’s new album “Artpop”, which just hit No 1 on the Japanese music chart, features an optical-illusion artwork designed by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. “I’m glad my artwork drew people’s attention,” he says. “I hope people all over the world will see how interesting optical illusions are.” Kitaoka, 52, made the illusion titled “Gangaze” in 2008 and displayed it on his website. The image on the album cover features objects that look like the spikes of a sea urchin and gives viewers an impression that those spikes are moving and popping out. People working with Lady Gaga asked Kitaoka for approval to use the image. At the university, Kitaoka teaches psychology. Originally studying animal psychology, Kitaoka came up with an idea to use optical illusions when he was studying the senses of monkeys. Kitaoka started designing images using a personal computer in the mid 1990s. Optical illusions can make people perceive that a motionless image is moving and make a graphic image look different from its actual form. These illusions have raised fundamental questions about how people perceive the outside world through their eyes and brains. “Studies can unveil various things about visual senses,” Kitaoka says, adding that he believes that the world of optical illusions is profound.

It is understandable that the words illusion and delusion are confused, since they sound and look similar. The best way to avoid confusing illusion and delusion is to remember that an illusion is the result of imagining that something is a certain way, when it is not that way in reality. It can be the result of our senses telling us something that is not accurate. Whereas a delusion is a decided belief that something is a certain way, and we have made up our minds wrongly that this is the case. So an illusion is not a result of a deliberate choice, but a delusion suggests that there may be something wrong with the person who makes the mistake. For example, we might consider:

• Before the ajarn offered an explanation, the student had the mistaken illusion that the correct idiomatic term was optical delusion instead of the right expression, optical illusion.
• Even after the ajarn explained that optical illusion was the correct way to write the idiomatic expression and not optical delusion, the student still had the delusion that the mistaken expression was somehow right.

If we remember that optical illusions may be wrong but they are not our fault, whereas delusions suggest that something may be wrong with our decision-making process, then we are less likely to confuse the two terms.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)