Misread, misheard, misspelled
On Facebook, sometimes users are required to type in a word to verify that one is indeed a human and not a cyborg or a hacker. It’s called a “captcha” – get it, like, “capture,” but all loosey-goosey and free-style? Say it with attitude – move your shoulders with each syllable. “Captcha.”
(You totally whispered it out loud, didn’t you? You sassy little devil.)
But I only just now realized that it’s pronounced “captcha”; when you read something over and over, but are never required to say it out loud, your brain can play tricks on you. And this whole time, in my head, I’ve been calling it a “captchka.” “Captchka” makes absolutely no sense – PLUS, with 5 consonants in a row, it’s almost impossible to pronounce. What was I thinking?
I have a little electronic key on my key-ring that unlocks certain doors at the office. When I included it in Friday’s video, I realized that I did not, in fact, know what it was called; you see my slight hesitation at 1:33. In my head, I have been calling it a “pre-farb,” which is quite possibly the ugliest word in the made-up English language*. But today I was set straight: it’s a “key fob.”
There’s an old Patty Loveless song with the line, “It gets melancholy.” Until very recently, I thought she was singing about “a kid-smellin’ collie” – which could have been right…?
There are words that slide comfortably into my written lexicon that I’ve discovered that I have to pause before pronouncing out loud: archetype, posthumous, banal, wan.
I have a new goal of being able to spell, with no hesitation, the following:
– coup d’état
– hors d’oeuvres
– onomatopoeia
*The ugliest word in the ACTUAL English language is “crotch.”
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tags: Discoveries | Now I know | Words
Patty Loveless is shaking her head in shame.
Heidi gets so frustrated when she hears me sing along with songs because I ALWAYS misremember the words, and she ALWAYS knows exactly what they’re supposed to be. You could get Freudian with it though, and look for the deeper meaning in the interpretation. :)
I’m counting down. Four days.
I’m wondering if that is really a “key fob” instead of a “key fab?” Check it out….
Terry – TOTALLY! I’m changing it. I cannot have any misspelled words in my post about misspelling. :)
Panties is also a bad one.
There’s a website called “Archive of misheard lyrics” or something like that. Check it.
A key fob! I think “fob” is the weirdest noun ever. I just learned it a couple weeks ago…
the other week I was planning a party with my sisters, and we had just talked about the trouble with spelling hors d’oeuvres, and then I typed it out and it worked, and I spelled it right, and we had a celebration moment. You know: finish typing, pause a second to see if the red line of spelling doom appears underneath, it doesn’t, then you look at each other and scream in glee. Yup. I spelled it.
But then, as I was writing my comment, I couldn’t do it and had to look back in the post. Guess I CAN’T actually spell it…
hahaha :) such a great post. you rock!
*ditto on panties.
and this makes me laugh because there is a patty loveless song called “passionate kisses” and when I was younger I thought she was saying “hashin’ and kissin’.” what? that makes no sense.
but at least now I feel validated that MAYBE SHE NEEDS TO WORK ON HER PRONUNCIATION.
Oooh… you’re thinking of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Passionate Kisses” (actually written by Lucinda Williams) – one of my favorite songs ever. haha… “hashin’ and kissin'”… that is beautiful… :)
with birds i share this lonely view = whispers i sa-aid long love you…for like, 3 years.
OMG.
Erin.
I still thought that it was “it doesn’t shed it’s a lonely feeling.”
TODAY IS THE DAY I LEARNED THE TRUTH!
I literally laughed out loud in the middle of quiet coffee shop.
Crotch.
Favorite Patty Loveless song: On Down The Line. “I can’t get no satisfaction.. and my tractor don’t get no traction.” I think I was 7 years old and I was totally obsessed with that (I had it on cassette tape album.
worst word: girth
Other worst word: thrust.
annie: penetrate
Crotch. Awesome Blog.
Another word: moist.
Annie, there is a song by Carly Simon where she sings, “its the stuff that dreams are made of…” I used to think she was saying, “it’s the stuff thats green tomatoes…” seriously. who sings about green tomatoes. but thats what i thought she was saying…glad to know i’m not alone in the mishearing of certain song lyrics! Ps. your video was hilarious!