Wrong use of homophones

Bufty

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Right, just a misunderstanding...not quite a homophone confusion.

That makes three of us who understand now. It's Snitchcat's typing cat that's responsible -post#13. :Hug2:
 

The Second Moon

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I just wrote this...(It was supposed to be sticks)

Trumaine grabbed a plate of lukewarm, cinnamon-covered French toast stockings and a plastic cup of orange juice.

Trumaine may be at a summer camp but I doubt they are going to make him eat socks :roll:
 

K Robert Donovan

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inciteful vs insightful

I had spell check correct something I was writing to read as "inciteful". I took one look and thought - that can't be right. I did a quick synonym check and changed it to "insightful" which was my intended meaning.

*shaking my head, grateful I caught it*
 

B.D. Skunkworks

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I constantly mix up "form" and "from" using one in place of the other. Yes, I know perfectly well what the darn words mean, but in my typing I guess my fingers just drift the wrong way. It seems right in my brain but comes out different on the screen. Just like in reading, your brain doesn't actually process the entirety of a written word, instead, just looking for certain letters in certain places. I just see f-r-m and just keep going from there, unaware of the order of the two most important letters...
 

Biffington

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Fingers, you ever ask someone if they're thinking what you're thinking?

Because if me and Pippy Longstockings got together, what would the children look like?

I still remember reading paradise lost, and all the times he used "aweful." If you replace it with awful, it reshapes a lot of that book.
 

talktidy

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My name is Brian. Cant tell you how many times either myself or someone else has typed brain. It used to bug me when I would get junk mail with that name.

Probably apocryphal that here in Blighty the Radio Times at one point carried a listing for that much loved radio quiz show Brian of Britain.
 

tiddlywinks

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Ugh. I swear, in every darn manuscript, there's always one major homophone gaff. *rolls eyes* At this point, I just sigh and wait to find out which one it will be that my brain decided "great! you really mean mite but you're going to type might THE WHOLE DARN MANUSCRIPT and wait till your CPs point out what a bonehead you are, ahahahahahahahaahahhaha."

Stupid brain.

I mean, I'm really just testing my CPs. And they pass every time? :roll:
 

Bacchus

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My name is Brian. Cant tell you how many times either myself or someone else has typed brain. It used to bug me when I would get junk mail with that name.

Ha - I am a "Rob" and have signed many, many emails "Regards, Orb". Of course Outlook aut-capitalises Orb so that it really looks as if that's what I meant to type, and the spell-check lets it go!
 

neandermagnon

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On the subject of unfortunate typos, there was the time when I *almost* misspelled "county" (minus one letter. Yes, that one!) in case notes at work. Luckily I spotted it in time.

There's a scientific explanation for why people accidentally type the wrong homophone even when they know the difference. It annoys me when so many people assume ignorance of spelling and/or the meanings of words when people make these kinds of mistakes online. It's a common glitch in human brains. No biggie. Proof reading is important but in casual conversation on the internet I think it's more important for people to consider their content (e.g. not shooting their mouth* off about stuff they don't know anything about) than proofreading to catch every single tiny error.

*or typing fingers maybe
 

Paul Lamb

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This is not a big problem for me, but it does happen, and it's always a cringe moment when I find one in a story that I've read dozens of times already and missed it.

More common for me is when my fingers disregard my brain and type "not" in place of "now." "We will not be coming" should have been "We will now be coming."
 

Lone Wolf

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For work I used to deal with a company called Wolfe, and now writing a novel with a wolf in it, every time I type "wolf" my fingers automatically add the "e" on the end out of muscle memory /habit. Hey, I finally actually typed wolf without adding, then deleting the "e" - oh, but then I just did it with the e again!
 

The Second Moon

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For work I used to deal with a company called Wolfe, and now writing a novel with a wolf in it, every time I type "wolf" my fingers automatically add the "e" on the end out of muscle memory /habit. Hey, I finally actually typed wolf without adding, then deleting the "e" - oh, but then I just did it with the e again!

Wow. That sounds frustrating, but at least you spelled "Wolf" without an "e" in your username. :)
 

Froeschli

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With English not being native language, I think I have fewer issues with writing homophones. They're just not as ingrained. And having studied Latin, small differences in spelling make a big difference in meaning. (Or Russian, where the emphasis in pronouncing the word can turn it from writing to p!ssing... - and I don't recall which is which ;-) )
So when I come across homophones in a text they stop me dead. I end up having to read aloud, in order to figure out what the person meant to say...

(You should see me trying to decipher some Facebook posts...)

My biggest issue is using colloquial (incorrect) grammar. That annoys me, because I ought to know better.
 

Gang aft agley

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Affect and effect. Just about any other set of homophones aren't much of a problem, other than getting too fast for my eyeballs, brain, and fingers to keep up with each other. But for some darn reason, no matter how often I remind myself, affect and effect will not resolve themselves in my brain.

I just had to edit this because I used to fast instead of too fast. *facepalm*
 
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Sage

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Not quite a homophone, but my current favorite is that the Messenger app on my watch can't figure out that we're running tests on urchins. These tests are always "urgent fertilization" tests.
 

Gang aft agley

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Not quite a homophone, but my current favorite is that the Messenger app on my watch can't figure out that we're running tests on urchins. These tests are always "urgent fertilization" tests.

:roll: Urgent Urchin Fertilization Tests. I love you for allowing that to now be a thing in my head. :)
 

neandermagnon

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what I meant to write: "interest is linked to stock market index/indices"

what I actually wrote: "interest is linked to sock market index/indices"

Now I want to go to this sock market! Maybe it's where all the lost odd socks go...
 

Froeschli

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Now I want to go to this sock market! Maybe it's where all the lost odd socks go...

(OT)
Apparently some years ago a radio show asked listeners to send in their single socks, meaning to pair people up with their "sock match".
Only, they discovered that men and women mostly wore gender specific socks, so their aim to create romance was a bit of a bust...
 
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The Second Moon

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I once wrote "He sizzled his eyes shut. I meant "He squeezed his eyes shut." My jaw dropped in horror at the though of someone sauteing open eyeballs until they close. YUCK!
 

frimble3

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I know I've found this thread months too late, but just wanted to say:
"Know, I won't do that for you."
I like this line, and it probably doesn't make sense in your story, but it might, in a different place.
Some historic or fantasy story, perhaps. A somewhat formal person explaining that he's not going to do something.
Like, "Understand, I'm not your servant."
"Get this straight, I'm not your sucker."
"Believe me, it's not happening."
It has kind of a Shakespearian ring. The way he would have used 'forsooth'.
 
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Roxxsmom

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Mistakes like these tend to happen to me when I am typing really quickly while distracted, such as when I am answering an e-mail or typing a forum post when I have to get out the door, or when someone is talking to me. I don't do it as often when writing fiction, but it can happen if I'm typing really quickly and an thinking really hard about what I am going to write next. Some homophones are similar enough in spelling that my fingers can go into autopilot mode if I'm not paying attention to them.

I tend to make non-homophone typos more often, though, again when two words have a similar spelling. Sometimes results are amusing, such as typing "shitter" for shutter, or "dick" for "duck."

I mix up "not" and "now" a lot, which often changes a sentence's meaning by 180 degrees. It's happened a couple of times in these forums, and I'll get a couple of comments asking me why I'm saying something so awful.

what I meant to write: "interest is linked to stock market index/indices"

what I actually wrote: "interest is linked to sock market index/indices"

Now I want to go to this sock market! Maybe it's where all the lost odd socks go...

:roll:

This is very much the kind of mistake I would make.
 
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The Second Moon

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Glad to see this thread up again. Once again I have made a humorous mistake.

I meant to write: “I really want him to choke on his spit and die,” grumbled Betula.

Instead I wrote: “I really want him to choke on his pits and die,” grumbled Betula.

Ew! I can just imagine the call to 911

911: What's your emergency?

Person: My friend choked on his pits!

911: His...pits?

Person: Yes!
 

Chase

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I didn't catch my protagonist walking between "rose of chairs" 'til the galley proof. :rant:

https://slate.com/human-interest/20...ariants-of-the-increasingly-popular-word.html

About the URL above, I'm an old school speller of "whoa," whether as a command (plea?) to horses or an interjection, but I note an entire string of recent commercials by Disney spells it "woah" in letters across the screen and in most closed captions (at least one caption writer went with the traditional "whoa"). :greenie