Intentional Misspelling Word Game

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And here he is with a quiz of his.

It’s John Chaneski, our quiz guy.

Oh, very nice.

Thank you.

You guys are so poetic.

I love it.

Now, you know, I rarely ask for correct spelling in these quizzes.

And so why should we start now?

I’ve researched several of the most commonly misspelled words.

I’ll give you a clue to the word, and then you must spell it.

Incorrectly.

But now, remember, I’ll need you to spell it as it is most commonly misspelled.

All right?

So we have to draw upon our misspellings.

Yeah, yeah.

Common misspellings.

That’s right.

For example, this is a confection made from sugar, water, and gelatin whipped into a solid but soft consistency.

It’s so good, you might want some more.

You’d have to spell out M-A-R-S-H.

M-E-L-L-O-W.

Because the E is incorrect.

It should be an A.

Marshmallow.

Marshmallow.

It’s called marshmallow with an A.

Yes, very good.

There are no wrong answers because they’re all wrong answers.

Okay, here we go.

This verb means to formally charge someone with a serious crime.

Oh, so indict, I-N-D-I-T-E?

Yes, I-N-D-I-T-E.

Indict.

Martha, could you give us the correct?

It’s really supposed to be I-N-D-I-C-T.

That sounds oddly silent.

That’s correct.

This noun is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces.

Oh, lieutenant.

Not lieutenant.

It could be colonel or it could be sergeant.

I think you should go with the second one, yeah.

Sergeant?

Is it?

Wait.

People probably spell it with an A, right?

S-A-R-E-N-D-I-C-T.

Probably S-A-R-G-E-N-T.

That’s right.

S-A-R-G-E-N-T, Sargent.

Incorrect.

And it’s not helpful, the fact that we shorten it as Sarge, but it’s S-E-R-G-E-N-T.

That’s correct.

Good point.

I never thought about that.

This noun refers to someone like Shakespeare, Chekhov, O’Neill, and Moliere who create characters and dramas.

Mm—

Yeah.

Playwright.

Yeah.

I got two different misspellings for this one.

Give me both.

Okay, one of them would be P-L-A-Y-W-R-I-T-E.

Correct.

Or incorrect.

Think about the writing rather than the crafting, right?

Correct.

Think about them as putting words to paper rather than somebody who shapes words, so it should be W-R-I-G-H-T.

Right.

And the other misspelling is P-L-A-Y-R-I-G-H-T.

Just playwright.

Oh, yeah, of course, yeah.

This noun refers to a souvenir, an object kept as a reminder of a person or an event.

Oh, yeah.

Yep.

Memento.

And I bet people say M-O-M-E-N-T-O.

Correct.

Memento.

It is M-E-M-E-N-T-O.

That’s right.

Yeah, like memory.

When you say memento like you do, it makes it pretty clear how to spell it.

If you just say memento really quick, people are like, maybe there’s an O in there somewhere.

Guys, great job or bad job.

In any other case, you got exactly what I wanted you to get and you did fantastic.

Well done.

Thanks, John.

I really appreciate it.

J-O-N.

Hey, G-R-A-N-T.

T-H-A-N-K-S.

That was fun.

Thanks, John.

Thanks.

See you next time.

A bientôt, John.

We’ll talk to you next time and give our best to the family.

If you’ve got a word or question, a thought, idea, story, or what have you about language,

The toll-free number in the United States and Canada is 877-929-9673.

You can email words@waywordradio.org.

Or go to our website to find a contact form and all of our social media handles at waywordradio.org.