Technology blamed for UK's bad spelling

Published on Sunday 14 June 2009 21:59

"DEFINITELY" is the most commonly misspelt word in the English language, a study has found.

The word came top in a study of everyday words Britons struggle to spell correctly, with many people regularly mixing up the second "I" with an "A".

Second place was "sacrilegious", which leaves people confused over whether it has an "E" or "I" in the middle. "Indict", which is often misspelt as "indite", was third.

A spokesman for the market research company www.OnePoll.com, which carried out the study of 5,000 Britons, said: "So many of us can't seem to spell. Whether it is down to the structure of the word or the frequency of use, there is no excuse not to learn how they are formed.

"And considering people judge others, yet don't like their own intelligence to be judged by how well they spell, they should up their game and pick up a dictionary."

The fourth most difficult word was "manoeuvre" which causes problems due to the close proximity of the "O" and "E" to each other.

"Bureaucracy", which is awkward because of the inclusion of so many vowels, was fifth.

The vegetable "broccoli" came sixth, followed by "phlegm" at seven and "prejudice" at eight.

"Consensus" and "unnecessary" completed the top ten.

The survey revealed some very odd ways the nation spells words that just failed to make the top 20. Nearly one in ten thought "mortgage" was spelt "morgauge" and seven per cent often spell "speech" as "speach".

Ninety per cent admit giving up trying to spell "diarrhoea" and a third get it so wrong their PC spell-checker can't even recognise the word they are attempting to conquer.

The research also found 57 per cent judged other people on their spelling, with 42 per cent admitting they believed people who could not spell were "thick".

Most Britons rate their spelling as "good". Half admit the spell-check and auto-correcting on computers are to blame for their laziness in not checking.

One in three reckons predictive text messaging and "text speak" are to blame for terrible spelling.

More than three-quarters of the adults polled (78 per cent) said women were generally better at spelling than men.

A spokesperson for www.OnePoll.com added: "It's clear technology is contributing to the downfall of our ability to spell. It often comes down to picking up bad habits earlier on in life.

"Computers and mobile phones which spell words for us have left us with a lazy attitude towards spelling."

TRICKY WORDS

TOP 5 MISSPELT WORDS

Correct spelling – wrong spellings

1. Definitely – Definately, Definitaly

2. Sacrilegious – Sacriligious, Sacreligious

3. Indict – Indite, Indight

4. Manoeuvre – Maneouvre, Mannouvre

5. Bureaucracy – Beaurocracy, Bureaucrasy