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>Chuck Palahniuk I've been reading his books since I found out who wrote Fight Club in 1999. My brain does NOT want to remember how to spell his name. It makes
by Pigo 8y ago
>Chuck Palahniuk
I've been reading his books since I found out who wrote Fight Club in 1999. My brain does NOT want to remember how to spell his name. It makes me feel like I have a learning disability.
- js2 8y agoI can never spell "bureaucracy" correctly without assistance. I always have to spell check it. Sometimes I can't even get close enough to spell check. I can't think of any other English words I have such trouble with.
- d-sc 8y agoThe other day I got some funny looks when I yelled ‘exercise’ at my phone in a locker room because I couldn’t remember how to spell it.
- SamBam 8y agoI always go through "exersize", no, wait, "exercize", no, wait, "exercise." I always get there, but it always takes me there tries.
- dasyatidprime 8y agoIs it easier to spell “bureau” itself correctly? If so, you might be able to use that as a mnemonic. You can also take the “-cracy” part from other words like “democracy”.
- tunesmith 8y agoI can only get it if I mispronounce it in my head. I think "bureau" and "cracy". I guess that's not so helpful.
- btilly 8y agoI learned to spell it by learning enough French to know how to spell bureau. Then it was easy.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoCan you spell bureau? Maybe you can make a mnemonic, how are you with spelling burette? A crazy person is using a burette with a gold (Au) end, extruding a 3D wireframe model of a desk (bureau): Bure(tte)+au+crazy ... and hopefully you can remember where the final "c" goes.
- js2 8y agoI cannot spell bureau. It trips me up even typing it. Maybe this is the thread that will have finally jammed it into my brain. I'll get back to you in a week or so. :-)
- raldi 8y agoHow about "eau", like French for water?
- js2 8y agoOkay got it, that will help. I’ve just made a mental note between bureau and eau de toilette. Thanks! Edit: this got me wondering about bureau’s etymology. It’s a strange one: The story of the word bureau is one of substitutions. In its original French, bureau originally named a “coarse woolen cloth,” particularly baize, the green, felt-like fabric that covers card and pool tables. Historically, bureaus draped desks, desks filled offices, and offices housed the business of governmental agencies ... Etymologically, though, bureau wasn’t green. The term derives from burel, an Old French diminutive of bure, “dark brown cloth.” Bure, in turn, may be from the Latin burrus, a word for “red” and related to the “fiery” Greek root that gives English pyro. Alternatively, the Old French bure may come the Latin burra, “shaggy garment” or “flock of wool.” Bureau appears in English in French contexts as early as 1664 for an “office” or “business,” natively established by 1720. In the 1690s, bureau harkened back to its earlier sense of “writing desk” and extended to a “chest of drawers” by 1755, which the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes as a chiefly American usage. https://mashedradish.com/2017/05/16/the-bureau-of-etymological-investigation/ https://mashedradish.com/2017/05/16/the-bureau-of-etymologic...
- williamdclt 8y ago> I can't think of any other English words I have such trouble with. Probably because it's more french than english :) Not an easy one either: English speakers have a lot of trouble with the "u" sound and "eau" pronounced "o" is far from obvious.
- js2 8y agoApparently the two years of French I took in high school didn't help me with my English either. :-(
- zepearl 8y ago7 years french => I keep screwing up "Peugeot" (cars)
- InitialLastName 8y agoWell, that one's dumb because it has an R in it.
- jgtrosh 8y agoIncluding Renault we now have 2 weird ways to spell the O sound in French (eau, eo) and 1 weird silent pair of consonants (lt).
- PKop 8y agoThis is exactly the same for me... the hardest word to ever remember for as much as I use it.
- dx7tnt 8y agoI've often thought it a cruel irony that 'dyslexic' is spelled the way it is.
- anderspitman 8y agoSomething that helps me remember how to spell words is to memorize the pronunciation in German (which I studied a bit years ago). Not translating the word, actually pronouncing the English (or whatever) word as if it were German. So bureau would be "burr-eh-ah-oo" (probably not perfect but good enough). This would work in any language with consistent pronunciation.
- pault 8y agoHah, the other day I spelled it correctly for the first time in my life. I was so excited I yelled and my co-workers all thought I was crazy. :)
- ezequiel-garzon 8y agoSpanish imported it as burocracia, much easier!
- jaza 8y agoThat's what I love about Spanish. There is this iron-clad rule that everything is spelt exactly as it's pronounced. Compared to English (or French), it's so ridiculously easy that (I sometimes think to myself) it must be a toy, not an actual human language. And when they borrow words from other (not phonetic) languages, they just say "to hell with that spelling", and spell it in a perfectly logical way themselves.
- alanfranz 8y agoThere is an actual rule from the Real Academia that says that you can spell some imported words either as they are meant to in the original language, or as they are written. Many times they just adapt their writing, eg leader -> líder, but when an actual English word happens in Spain.. good luck at recognizing it! It took me about one hour to understand which band we were talking about. The Eagles was spelt like 'los egles'
- jgtrosh 8y agoI have a buddy in Spain called something like “jébi”. Took me a while to understand it's supposed to mean “heavy” as in “heavy metal”.
- jrochkind1 8y agoYep, that's one of the main ones I can never spell either! It sometimes help if I try to remember "bureau". bureaucracy is an organization governed by bureaus. But if I think about it too much, I just lose the ability to spell bureau too.
- healsjnr1 8y agoFor me it is _guarantee_. I've tried so hard. I've practiced, tried mnemonics, but after a few weeks I'll need to spell it again, and it's gone.
- kakarot 8y agoJust remember how to spell bureaucrat and you'll be A-ok. I still trip out on tongue and related brethren.
- scrumbledober 8y agothe first time I heard him say his own name in an interview it was difficult to accept the pronunciation.