Misspellings

“Limited Quanities”

Devolution toward Simpler, Misspellings, Nouns

I saw this in a television advertisement for a business named Surplus Furniture.

Problem:
The noun is misspelled.

Explanation:
The misspelling is obvious: “Quanities” should have been “Quantities” in the big headline in the TV commercial.

What is not as obvious, perhaps, is why the misspelling occurred.

Not enunciating distinctly the first ‘t’ in “quantities” is common among many American speakers, so the misspelling could be due to the headline writer unconsciously spelling “quantities” in the way that he or she heard the noun dictated by the furniture-store owner.

I also believe that the misspelling is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis. It’s simpler to drop the first ‘t’ than to include it.

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

  • “quantities” — 50,800,000 matches
  • “quanities” — 165,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have written the word correctly vs. incorrectly by a ratio of 308:1, which is a very good sign.

Solution:
“Limited Quantities”

“… Comcast will wave its early termination fee …”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Hyphens, Misspellings, Nouns, Verbs

I saw this in an April-23 article on the RCR Wireless News website.

Problems:
1. The verb is wrong.
2. A hyphen is missing.

Explanation:
The missing hyphen is a common English blunder, but a simple rule tells us that the hyphen is required in a particular part of this expression.

Here is the rule: When an adjective (e.g., “early”) and a noun (e.g., “termination”) together modify another noun (“fee”), there should be a hyphen to join the adjective to the first noun — to create a “compound” modifier, if you will, of the second noun.

I am not sure how common the other English blunder is: writing “wave” where “waive” — which means to forgo or give up — is required.

However, I believe that both problems are consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis. It is simpler to write “wave” than to write “waive”; it is simpler to omit a hyphen than to include one.

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

  • “waive the fee” — 106,000 matches
  • “wave the fee” — 1,790 matches

This tells me that Web authors have written the phrase correctly vs. incorrectly by a ratio of 59.2:1, which is heartening.

Solution:
“… Comcast will waive its early-termination fee …”

“Supercede”

Common English Blunders, Misspellings, Verbs

I occasionally see “supercede” when the writer means something else.

Problem:
“Supercede” is a misspelled word.

Explanation:
“Supercede” is a misspelling of “supersede” and reflects the combination of the influence of other words (e.g., “intercede”) and an ignorance about the roots of words.

The verb “supersede” literally means to sit upon or above — from “super” (from the Latin “super”: upon or above) and “sede” (from the Latin “sedére”: to sit).

In contrast, the “cede” in verbs such as “concede” comes from the Latin “cédere”: to go or yield.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • supersede — 2,780,000 matches
  • supercede — 838,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have written the word correctly vs. incorrectly by a ratio of 3.32:1, which is pitiful.

I recall a software manufacturer once naming its product “Supercede” and wondering whether the maker intentionally misspelled “supersede” in order to create a unique name or unintentionally misspelled the verb out of ignorance.

In any case, I found it disheartening that the maker would use a common misspelling as its product’s brand name.

Solution:
“Supersede”