Misspellings

“MAKE IT SEEMLESS!”

Adjectives, Misspellings

I saw this in a message from a supervisor to other employees.

Problem:
The word “seemless” — spelled S-E-E-M-L-E-S-S — is nonsensical.

Explanation:
The supervisor was trying to tell the other employees that customer care should be smooth — that effectively it should have no seams — spelled S-E-A-M-S — for the customer.

That gives us the solution.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words (without the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “seamless” — spelled S-E-A-M-L-E-S-S — 33,600,000 matches
  • “seemless” — spelled S-E-E-M-L-E-S-S — 794,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors favor the correctly spelled “seamless” over the misspelled “seemless” by a ratio of 42.3:1 — good, but not great, especially given the nearly one million matches for the misspelled word.

Solution:
“MAKE IT SEAMLESS!”

“Simular” vs. “Similar”

Adjectives, Mispronunciations, Misspellings, Verbs, Versus

My wife heard the first word used several times yesterday as a synonym of the second word, and I once worked for someone who regularly made the same mistake.

Problem:
These two words are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The word “simular” — spelled S-I-M-U-L-A-R — dates back to the early 1500s.

The meaning of “simular” as a noun is pretender. The primary meaning of “simular” as an adjective is simulated or counterfeit.

A valid example of the use of “simular” as an adjective would be “Pleather is simular leather.”

The word “similar” — spelled S-I-M-I-L-A-R — dates back to the early 1600s, is only an adjective, and primarily means having a resemblance or likeness.

A valid example of the use of “similar” as an adjective would be “The two automobiles in the parking lot were so similar that John tried to unlock the wrong one.”

I believe that some people mispronounce and/or misspell the adjective “similar” — spelled S-I-M-I-L-A-R — as “simular” — spelled S-I-M-U-L-A-R — because of interference from the verb “simulate”, which does have the vowel “u” in the middle of it.

I doubt that most users of “simular” — with a “u” in the middle — know its true meaning.

Solution:
Use the adjective “simular” when referring to something that is false or simulated or counterfeit. Use the adjective “similar” when referring to a likeness or resemblance.

“… with a possible extention.”

Common English Blunders, Misspellings, Nouns

I saw this in an emailed advertisement for an instructional designer.

Problem:
The noun is misspelled.

Explanation:
The complete line was “Duration: ASAP – End of Oct. with a possible extention.” — spelled E-X-T-E-N-T-I-O-N.

There is no such word.

Then again, are recruiters supposed to be able to spell?

I believe so, and I believe that a job advertisement with misspellings hurts a recruiter’s reputation.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (with the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “extension” — with the letter “s” toward the end — 206,000,000 matches
  • “extention” — with the letter “t” toward the end — 5,760,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have written the noun correctly vs. incorrectly by a ratio of 35.8-to-1, which is bad.

Considering the nearly six million matches for the incorrect spelling, one would have to conclude that the misspelling is a common English blunder.

Solution:
“… with a possible extension.”