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25 Words That Just Look Wrong

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:08 PST, Feb 2, 2016

Words can be strange things at times, especially in the English language. Just try explaining to a child or someone who speaks another language why the word “one” is spelled the way it is, and you’ll soon realize just how many English word spelling nuances there are. People on Reddit were asked “What words looks wrong to you, and how do you think they should be spelled?” And the responses prove just how strange the English language can be.

Colonel

“Colonel should be spelled SO MANY different ways.” TheSlipperyFists
“I pronounce it the way it’s spelled out of protest.” xsited1
“You can’t spell colonel without colon. Seems about right.” tobyond

Cholomondely

“The British must explain to me how on earth is Cholomondely pronounced Chumley” wisedom

Restaurant

“Restaurant. That u should be after the second a.” LazySOB

Yacht

“Yacht. This spelling makes no sense to me.” lionessluna
“Yot.” _CattleRustler_
“The answer is because that word didn’t look fancy enough to all the people who can afford yachts.” SkyKiwi

One

“I never thought about this until I started teaching my kids to read. Trying to explain why ‘one’ is pronounced ‘won’ is f***ing frustrating.” ComeAbout
“It just goes against English. The E at the end should make the O make the O sound. Should be pronounced own.” FirexJkxFire

Queue

“Queue. Let’s just make everyone’s lives easier and call it ‘Q.’ ” MrTechnonaught
“4 silent letters waiting their turn.” The_Great_Northwood

Arkansas

“Arkansas. It looks like Ark-kansas but sounds like Ar-kan-saw.” The_Great_Northwood

Quinoa

“Not sure how it should be spelled, not sure how to pronounce, but f*** this word.” violentre
“I pronounced it as ‘qwin-oh-ah’ for longer than I’d like to admit.” Alcubierre

February and Wednesday

“I’d like to officially change February to Febuary. And Wednesday to Wendsday.” BonnieNotClyde
“Or Wensday even” _CattleRustler_
“I just call it wed-ness-day.” thefatrabitt
“Everyone pronounces it Whensday.” ManFromTheMun

Phoenix

“P-H-O-E-N-I-X looks dumb and the O and E should be reversed.” SovietPropagandist
“I think the O should just be removed. If you switched the E and the O it would be fee-oh-nix.” averagekitteh

Segue

“Segue. Should be segway. Makes no sense.” Phuchtard
“Every time, I read segue as ‘seeg.’ ruhbuhjuh
“For me it’s ‘seh-gyoo-ee.’ knitasha

Bologna

“Bologna. Below knee. Baloney.” TsokitsjustMe

Minuscule

“Minuscule doesn’t contain ‘mini’ in it. It looks so wrong and I want to spell it miniscule every time.” yakusokuN8

All The ‘Ough’ Words

“Trough, bough, though, tough, cough. Seriously, what the f***? Go home, orthography; you’re drunk.” petesire

Pseudonym

“Pseudonym should be spelt SUDONIM.” erikaamartinn
“Sudonim is Pseudonym’s pseudonym.” RussianTritan

Leicester

“Leicester should just be spelt Lester.” onmypenis
“We use it to ward off tourists. London has loads of visitors from overseas, even compared to the amount of people that live there. I think the last tourist who went to Worcestershire, Leicestershire or Gloucestershire left in the 1970s.” -sprk

Receive

” ‘Receive’…. is it Recieve or Receive?!?!?! it looks weird both ways!” wwb1990
“Lets just make it receve and everybody is happy.” Sigmatics

Business

“Business. It looks like it should be pronounced with three syllables. Based on how people actually pronounce it, it seems like it should be spelled ‘bizniss.’ ” Back_Paragraphs

Absorption

“The word ‘absorb’ when it becomes ‘absorption’. it can just as easily be ‘absorbtion’. why should the b turn upside down?” elementop

And then people (as they inevitably do on the internet) got a little sidetracked by one word.

Boob

“The B looks like boobs from the top, the oo looks like boobs from the front, and the b looks like boobs from the side. Also, the word bed looks like a bed.” 4011

[Photo by Shutterstock]

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