Unfortunately some computer software will not let it be spelled with the third E.

We found this out when we got our new 911 address and kept telling everyone to spell it with another E...

The street we live on is named after my wife, and the name has an apostrophe in it. We soon discovered that there are a LOT of database programs that can't handle an apostrophe in an address. What's worse, they usually don't come back and tell you you've made an error; rather, everything looks good but it just throws all your info into the bit bucket. For example, you place a mail order online, filling in the address info, and you never get your order. And when you call them up, they say "What order?" It just completely dumps your entire order. You can't just go back and change the address entry; you have to start over. And, of course, you're left wondering if you're gonna get two of what you're ordering.

Sooooo, we've learned to leave the apostrophe out -- which really pi$$es off SWMBO, the former Language Arts teacher whom the road is named after!

Of course, Google Maps did it one better and just completely messed up the street name altogether, the lack of an apostrophe is the least of the issues.

I'm too lazy to look up words in a dictionary, especially for a casual communication. I figure most people will figure out what I mean.

Huked on fonics werked fer me

Reminds me of my daughter's writing:)

Is that the correct way to use discrete?

yes, the location is discrete. it is isolated.

I agree with the question, because I'd never use the word that way. I use "discrete" as though it's nearly synonymous with "separate" or "unrelated". So, I'd use it in a sentence thusly: "Discrete and discreet are discrete words."

We soon discovered that there are a LOT of database programs that can't handle an apostrophe in an address

The same is true with a hyphen in a city name. We live in Winston-Salem... but, most of the online services (mail order, bill payments, etc.) will not recognize it with the hyphen added.

Carolina Wine Trail
W.

When it comes to spelling and grammar in clues, there are two things to keep in mind:

1. If you're writing clues, nobody is ever bothered when you write everything correctly. Some people will be bothered if you have a lot of typos and other errors. It's a fact. If that bothers you, write your clues correctly--or at least have a friend proofread them for you. If it doesn't bother you, don't worry about it.
2. If you're reading clues, and you don't like the typos or other errors in them, change your settings so AQ will ignore that person's boxes in the future. You don't have to read them, and they don't have to listen to you complain. The best of both worlds. =)

-- Ryan

I'll throw in one "irregardless" and a couple "orientate" and "incentivize"... not spelling errors, but words I see all the time that are, well, not words at all. Right!?

We live in Winston-Salem... but, most of the online services (mail order, bill payments, etc.) will not recognize it with the hyphen added.

That's just stupid. What do you write? WinstonSalem? Winston Salem? Winston?

My personal favorite is sense, scents, since. You never know what someone will use. Our educational system in America is seriously failing when in one day I see three different clues and or posts where people are talking about common scents. If you see nothing wrong with that, then please so not post a clue until you figure it out. I don't even know why that one particular error gets under my skin so much, but it does!

"orientate" and "incentivize"... not spelling errors, but words I see all the time that are, well, not words at all.

Depends on where you live. Here in New Zealand, "orientate" is a word and "orient" is not a verb, only a part of the world.

let's not get started on American educational system... you know, in some states, the percent of the graduating high school population that is prepared for college has fallen to below 30%? America has fallen from first to 24th (perhaps even lower now, I haven't looked at the statistic recently) in terms of percent of its population that has a post-secondary degree.... ugh.

Sign me, College Administrator That's Terrified About the Future of Education in America
Chica

you place a mail order

The delivery guys ALWAYS have to call me on their cellphones to ask where we are because they cannot find us...because they are on the road the cemetery is on.

I even took 8 X 10 photos to the court house to show how they made a mistake...so now there are 2 different street signs up to our road...it is almost to complicated (and stupid) to even explain.

kk

America has fallen from first to 24th (perhaps even lower now, I haven't looked at the statistic recently) in terms of percent of its population that has a post-secondary degree.... ugh.

Actually, that doesn't bother me. Not everybody needs a college education. The bigger problem, IMHO, is that high school graduates are so unprepared for anything. If high school did a better job preparing graduates for life in the real world, we'd all be better off.

now there are 2 different street signs up to our road...it is almost to complicated (and stupid) to even explain.

We've had three different addresses since we moved here -- without moving. The first two were box numbers. Originally we all put our mailboxes out on the main road, and since I was first I took the initiative to include a map of the planned housing development and explaining how the box numbers could be assigned in logical order of the houses that would eventually be built. Well, they clearly didn't read any of that and just assigned the numbers in the order of the boxes which bore no resemblance to the order of the houses. So, when the boxes were all relocated into the neighborhood streets, they had to renumber everybody's box numbers to put them in order. And they still messed that up because they didn't assign numbers to empty lots, so when someone would build a house between two houses with sequential box numbers they'd end up with a box number with a letter suffix. One guy ended up with the suffix N, which meant everyone thought it was an abbreviation for "North" preceding the road name rather than a suffix on the box number.

Finally, the 911 service required that box numbers had to be replaced with real addresses. Fortunately, I managed to get our street named after SWMBO in the process -- although it took some doing to get a sign erected. Turned out no street name signs had been installed for three years because the road department thought the 911 department was handling it and the 911 people thought it was the road department's job, so nobody did it. We had to visit some officials and get it clarified to all whose job it actually was so that they'd start ordering some signs.

If high school did a better job preparing graduates for life in the real world, we'd all be better off.

Amen! I score the graduation tests for various states and am

a) appalled by the quality fo graduates we are putting out-many, if not most, of these kids have no concept of basic skills such as budgeting, balancing a checkbook, filling out a job application

b) appalled by the totally useless knowledge they are expected to have--Frankly, understanding interior opposite angles is not a skill every needs.

Bring back the day of options within a high school!

I don't expect the grammar and spelling to be perfect; I do expect it to be passable. Like it or not, a person's clues are often the first impression I get of a boxer. If there are multiple misspellings, typos, poor grammar, I do not form a positive impression.

I think Ryan summed it up well. If it bothers you that some might overlook your box because of poor writing, take the time to fix it. If you don't care, don't worry about it.

I am glad this subject came up because it reminds me to proof better and it may remind someone else to take a bit more time with presentation.

Now I will shut up and box!

What can I say? I was a copy editor in my pre-children days

How can I get that job?

I view my spelling abilities as a handicap sometimes; I find typos on DVD cases, cereal boxes, professionally published books...It's really quite distracting and my husband used to make fun of me for it.

I never discount someone's clues because of spelling, I just have to ignore the copy editor in my head. Spelling does not reflect intelligence. Some people can spell, some can't. Some can play the piano, some can't. My hubby flew through college with straight A's because I proofread ALL his papers for spelling; otherwise, his grades may have been slightly lower.

That said, I pronounce it "nu-clee-ar" (and "harASS" and "NAYtivity") while my husband says "noo-cu-lar"...drives me nuts!

Let's please stop picking on each others' spelling and grammar now, feelings are getting hurt and even those who take the high road are making punctuation errors. No one is immune.

many, if not most, of these kids have no concept of basic skills such as budgeting, balancing a checkbook, filling out a job application

Those are skills that should be taught by the parents.

The street we live on is named after my wife, and the name has an apostrophe in it. We soon discovered that there are a LOT of database programs that can't handle an apostrophe in an address. What's worse, they usually don't come back and tell you you've made an error; rather, everything looks good but it just throws all your info into the bit bucket. For example, you place a mail order online, filling in the address info, and you never get your order. And when you call them up, they say "What order?" It just completely dumps your entire order. You can't just go back and change the address entry; you have to start over. And, of course, you're left wondering if you're gonna get two of what you're ordering.

Our last name has an apostrophe in the middle..... Dell'Anno, so I can relate to this completely!!! You should see the weird variations we get in the mail!!

Also re: grammar and spelling..... it's really annoying that you folks don't spell colour right (and the spell check even puts a red line under it ;))) However, I love the hobby so much (and think that you people are fantastic for all the work you do to plant letterboxes and write clues) that I can overlook it. But when I write my own clues, I just cannot bring myself to spell colour the wrong way. (I hope you can bring yourselves to overlook that ;)))

WL

It depends on the online site... some sites will take the word without the hyphen; Winston Salem
others will only allow Winston. None so far liked it spelled WinstonSalem; that has 2 capital letters in the same word to them I guess

Those are skills that should be taught by the parents.

Are we way off topic or what?

Seriously, while I agree that parents are ultimately responsible for their child's education,I am of hte philosophy that our public school system should prepare individuals to be functioning members of society. To me that means teaching basic academic skills and how to apply them.

Obviously, many parents today do not have those skills themselves. Can't teach what you don't know!

Mama Stork
Proponent of practical education first

Actually I think your using my post to make your point rather than just making your point without using my post would have been the high road. Using my post was being snarky. Not admitting that you were being a wise arse (intentional misspelling), and continuing to be elitist, is doubly annoying. I looked at your clues. Your no more perfect than anyone else, which is to say your not.

lbm

We had to visit some officials

That is exactly what I did with the photos (figured they might be able to understand it better) to let them know that if we had an emergency they would NOT find us until it could be too late.
Their response was they get the information from them they would find us!
When I ask how another ambulance service could get that info, they got mad and said that they couldn't, that I need to use the county's...that's fine, but on a good day it would take a 1/2 hour to get to our house, where we can get the town closest to us (different county) in maybe 10 minutes.
But really, to have 2 different signs saying the road is named either Vine or the cemetery rd, I have never seen this anywhere and how would you even know which one it is?
The funny side to this is that we actually have our plots in this cemetery and one day the post master said to me that no way was I going to get away from my bills...ever! :)

kk

It is absolutely crazy the problem that some of you are having with your streets! How frightening that you actually have to worry about 911 not being able to find your house!
I really could care less if there are spelling or grammatical errors in clues, honestly I would still go find the box. But having to worry about 911 not having the ability to find my house because they cannot spell or understamd grammar...that is not okay! This is a hobby, but that could be life or death! How scary!

In reading this thread I don't see that (most) people are trying to be mean or critical. It seems to me that we are just fascinated by the English language and all of it's quirks! I am learning quite a bit about words, spelling and grammar; but the discrete/discreet is still kind of boggling my mind! Take it for what it's worth, there is always the ignore button...Terrio

Well, while we're getting edumacated, do I LIE on the bed with all the junk that's LAYING there? I get lay and lie mixed up.

My pet peeve is for people who talk for a living (newscasters for example) to say FUR instead of FOR. Lazy! The rest of us can say it anyway we want to but professionals should be more careful.

do I LIE on the bed with all the junk that's LAYING there?

That one is easy...

It is the LIE that gets you into the bed in the first place!

It is the junk (if that is what you want to call him) that does the lying.

Don

good point... higher education or not, they need to be prepared to function in society and contribute at some level...

that you actually have to worry about 911 not being able to find your house!

Which is the reason I am really thankful that my neighbor is a first responder!

kk

But she's right: the word forte meaning strength isn't supposed to have the accent.
for·te 1 (fôrt, fôrt, frt)
n.
1. Something in which a person excels.
2. The strong part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt.
[French fort, from Old French, strong, from Latin fortis; see fort.]
Synonyms: métier, specialty, thing
These nouns denote something at which a person is particularly skilled: Writing fiction is her forte. The theater is his métier. The professor's specialty was the study of ancient languages. Mountain climbing is really my thing.
Usage Note: The word forte, coming from French fort, should properly be pronounced with one syllable, like the English word fort. Common usage, however, prefers the two-syllable pronunciation, (fôr-tay), which has been influenced possibly by the music term forte borrowed from Italian. The result is a delicate situation; speakers who are aware of the origin of the word may wish to continue to pronounce it as one syllable but at an increasing risk of puzzling their listeners.

dancing pecan

Similar issue with via, which many pronounce vaya, not vee-a. Although I believe in the dictionary it is listed as either pronunciation, I am not convinced. Its Latin origin (and my speaking Romanian, a Latin language) leads me to believe it is the latter. BTW- I'm playing devil's advocate. I don't really care how "you", in the general sense, spell your clues as long as it doesn't affect the potential for finding the box. :) Go out there and plant! There are too many pretenses to deal with them all.

OR, better yet, AQ could add a dictionary button like Scrabulous (TM :) has, and we could all respond to each other's posts with pithy quips full of seemingly unabashed erudite expressions which are, in fact, just neologisms. We would have perfectly spelled correspondence with no frickin clue what anyone is talking about. Then we could all write essays on the intricacies of letterboxing, or, say, the importance of being grammatically correct in the letterboxing community, which we would all peer review and accept for publication. Then those with the most publications would get extra feathers in their hats (because you must already have a hat in order to be eligible to write said essay/publication) and the rest would live on in eternity hoping to one day achieve the greatness that is the manifold feather hat...Welcome to the academy.

Disclaimer: I am venting, not attacking.