Word or spelling errors which frequently crop up on social media posts (Trivia)

[Xenophon PCDGS]

On a more trivial level, "of" instead of "have" grates more than it ought to with me. "I would have", or "I would've", yes, but "I would of" ... never!

I remember graffiti making matters even worse by the use of "ov"...

 

[gg1]

Autocorrect, on a smartphone or similar device, is very useful for correcting accidental typos due to trying to type quickly, on a small keyboard, where there's no physically boundaries between keys and it's therefore very easy to mistype.

The problem is it also sometimes swaps one perfectly valid word for another, even when both words would work equally well in the context of the sentence you're typing and in some cases where using the 'corrected' word turns a coherent sentence into nonsense.

 

[Falcon1200]

Changing the gender of the well-known Edinburgh location from Princes to Princess Street Gardens - And I have even seen both forms used in the same post!

 

[GordonT]

Changing the gender of the well-known Edinburgh location from Princes to Princess Street Gardens - And I have even seen both forms used in the same post!

Similarly in Edinburgh - St. Andrew Square, St. Andrew's Square, St. Andrews Square "ect. ect".

 

[infobleep]

(My bold) - that was another one


and "they're" as well

So it was. That's what I call an auto-correct typo.

However, on balance, I know it would be worse with auto-correct switched off as I've tried it.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Going back more than 55 years in time, one of the problems seemed to be met amongst new office-based employees was the usage of the letters S and T in the ending of certain words, examples being extension and extention.

 

[philthetube]

Both and either, as in

Trains from this platform run in both directions, no they don't as they would have to split in the middle to do that, they run in either direction.

 

[Furryanimal]

Just spotted this on the LBC news site

A Ryanair flight from London Luton has been forced to abort its landing after the plane's GPS signal was 'jammed' near the boarder with Russia.

 

[Senex]

Use of "may" when sequence of tenses demands "might".

BBC staff trying to bring is use of American "Zee" for English "Zed".

 

[Merle Haggard]

Both and either, as in

Trains from this platform run in both directions, no they don't as they would have to split in the middle to do that, they run in either direction.

Indeed; at Wellingborough station there's a sign that says 'Trains to London leave from both platforms 2 and 4'. If I'm standing on Platform 3 I'm always looking out for a 360 approaching sideways

 

[swt_passenger]

Being as and been as,
Seeing as and seen as,
I saw and I seen.

 

[Calthrop]

Just spotted this on the LBC news site

A Ryanair flight from London Luton has been forced to abort its landing after the plane's GPS signal was 'jammed' near the boarder with Russia.

(My bolding) How many roubles per night does he or she pay for the accommodation concerned? (Sorry !)

ETA -- thought has struck -- @Furryanimal, is that what you were pointing out, rather than objecting to the word "jammed"? Anything that can be misunderstood, I'm liable to misunderstand...

 

[GordonT]

Scraped and scrapped in the context of motor vehicle accident damage occasionally get conflated.

 

[Lewisham2221]

"use to" and "suppose to"

Instead of

"Used to" and "supposed to"

-------

Also "why" instead of "while"

 

[GordonT]

A couple of contrived abbreviations I've seen in the past 12 hours:

"Ca" for can't or cannot.
"Tix" for tickets.

 

[317 forever]

Just spotted this on the LBC news site

A Ryanair flight from London Luton has been forced to abort its landing after the plane's GPS signal was 'jammed' near the boarder with Russia.

Talking of airline spelling mistakes, a few years ago the Easyjet referred to an airport I have never heard of: Stanstead Airport.

Others are your/you're. For example, your doing well or you're clothes.

An irritating one I see at work with overtime offers is first come first serve - with the d left off served.

 

[Gloster]

What about St Pancreas station? Or Canon Street?

 

[AndyPJG]

Yes! Especially its/it's, which even the BBC can't get it right a lot of the time'

and again from the BBC:-

Images on social media purport to show one of the chairlift's flywheels off it's spoke.

Ski lift collapse in Spain injures at least 30 people

 

[MotCO]

Stationary/stationery
Affect/effect (I often have to google that one myself, I can never remember the rule)

My mum always said there is an 'e' in stationery for 'envelope'. I always remember that one.

'Licence' for 'license'. You have a Driving Licence, and the DVLA license you to drive. - sorry, just seen this in post#52.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jan 2025 ==

Similarly in Edinburgh - St. Andrew Square, St. Andrew's Square, St. Andrews Square "ect. ect".

I'm not sure it it was deliberate, but I thought it was etc., rather than ect.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jan 2025 ==

Indeed; at Wellingborough station there's a sign that says 'Trains to London leave from both platforms 2 and 4'. If I'm standing on Platform 3 I'm always looking out for a 360 approaching sideways

If a 360 was approaching sideways, wouldn't it be a 180? Or probably a 90 or 270.

 

[Merle Haggard]

and again from the BBC:-

Ski lift collapse in Spain injures at least 30 people

People who write it's for the possessive should logically also write hi's but I've never seen that - yet!

 

[jfollows]

People who write it's for the possessive should logically also write hi's but I've never seen that - yet!

At 16:05 I followed the link and was baffled until I worked out that it’d been corrected.

Plenty of other media wouldn’t have noticed the error ever.

 

[Harpo]

‘Up to’ is a term abused in differing ways.

‘Up to every 10 minutes’ (for example) is used by transport services to mean 0-6 times per hour but logically means 6 to infinity times per hour (every 0-10 minutes).

‘Up to 70% off’. Guess which bit appears in minute print.

 

[Railsigns]

‘Up to’ is a term abused in differing ways.

‘Up to every 10 minutes’ (for example) is used by transport services to mean 0-6 times per hour but logically means 6 to infinity times per hour (every 0-10 minutes).

"Up to" is frequently misused as though it means "approximately".

For example, you may read "up to ten thousand people will be affected" when the intended meaning is "approximately ten thousand people will be affected".

The first version literally means "we can't tell you how many people will be affected, but it definitely won't exceed ten thousand, not even by one".

 

[GordonT]

I'm not sure it it was deliberate, but I thought it was etc., rather than ect.

Yes my "ect. ect." in quotes was intended as a bonus ball of a frequently rendered incorrect abbreviation.

 

[swt_passenger]

Defiantly for definitely.

 

[Ediswan]

President used in place of precedent.

 

[dcbwhaley]

A lot of people seem to confuse there with their and ensure with insure.

And disinterested and uninterested

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jan 2025 ==

(My bold) - that was another one

Both and either, as in

Trains from this platform run in both directions, no they don't as they would have to split in the middle to do that, they run in either direction.

Like the road sign saying "Use both lanes".
You do get a lot of horn blowing when you straddle the white line to do so.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jan 2025 ==

My mum always said there is an 'e' in stationery for 'envelope'. I always remember that one.
.

Our English teacher used that.
But he preferred "Station 'arry is the porter at the railway station who never moves"

 

[Railsigns]

President used in place of precedent.

Proceeding in place of preceding.
Formally in place of formerly.

 

[GordonT]

Irregardless in place of regardless (or possibly irrespective).

 

[MotCO]

Unconscious and subconscious.