Most commonly misspelled science and math words

[fresh_42]

Rune Elmqvist
Søren Sørensen
Christian Møller
Ole Rømer
Søren Hjorth
Carl Friedrich Gauß
Hermann Graßmann
Erwin Schrödinger
Guillaume François Antoine de L'Hôpital

and not to mention how often I corrected Reimann to Riemann!

 

[Orodruin]

Rune Elmqvist
Søren Sørensen
Christian Møller
Ole Rømer
Søren Hjorth
Carl Friedrich Gauß
Hermann Graßmann
Erwin Schrödinger
Guillaume François Antoine de L'Hôpital

and not to mention how often I corrected Reimann to Riemann!

You forgot Karl Schwarschild ...

 

[fresh_42]

You forgot Karl Schwarschild ...

... and shall I dicsclose that Celcius actually used his scale the other way around?

 

[dextercioby]

Also want to make a comment about that Russian mathematician. In Romanian, we have special characters which perfectly give in writing the equivalent of Russian letters: Cebîşev. The trick of course is that the Romanian pronunciation (IPA_RO = [ʧe.bɨ.'ʃev]) is not quite like the Russian. But it's letter-to-letter correspondence for writing, not for pronunciation purposes.

But yeah, for English it must be either ISO-9 (but they don't use the English alphabet) or whatever AMS says.

 

[bob012345]

Fibonacci.

 

[Klystron]

Currently updating my knowledge of dinosaur science and vertebrae paleontology by reading new books. Spelling and remembering names for species and groups, let alone pronouncing them, remains problematic. Not only does taxonomy include difficult to spell proper names as mentioned in earlier posts but applies pseudo-classical Latin conventions that vary enormously from the Latin I learned as a child.

Unpronounceable names exacerbate the inherent difficulty of learning about extinct animals from the spotty fossil records and early misinterpretations of same.

 

[topsquark]

Currently updating my knowledge of dinosaur science and vertebrae paleontology by reading new books. Spelling and remembering names for species and groups, let alone pronouncing them, remains problematic. Not only does taxonomy include difficult to spell proper names as mentioned in earlier posts but applies pseudo-classical Latin conventions that vary enormously from the Latin I learned as a child.

Unpronounceable names exacerbate the inherent difficulty of learning about extinct animals from the spotty fossil records and early misinterpretations of same.

You mean like, "aptasaurus?"

-Dan

 

[Klystron]

You mean like, "aptasaurus?"

-Dan

Got the joke but was thinking of composite names such as Ornithomimosauria and Halszkaraptorinae.

I have no problem with reclassifications of previously described fossils though the progression of names for brontosaurus reminds one of the Pluto planet classification controversy from astronomy.

 

[topsquark]

Got the joke but was thinking of composite names such as Ornithomimosauria and Halszkaraptorinae.

I have no problem with reclassifications of previously described fossils though the progression of names for brontosaurus reminds one of the Pluto planet classification controversy from astronomy.

That's what I used to call apatosaurus when I was a kid. :)

-Dan

 

[BillTre]

Currently updating my knowledge of dinosaur science and vertebrae paleontology by reading new books. Spelling and remembering names for species and groups, let alone pronouncing them, remains problematic. Not only does taxonomy include difficult to spell proper names as mentioned in earlier posts but applies pseudo-classical Latin conventions that vary enormously from the Latin I learned as a child.

Taxonomy can be kind of crazy with names.
Besides changes in names and continued use by some people (in the literature!) of old names, I have also seem mis-spelled names propagating through different published papers.

 

[Claude Bile]

Gouy phase.

 

[pinball1970]

Taxonomy can be kind of crazy with names.
Besides changes in names and continued use by some people (in the literature!) of old names, I have also seem mis-spelled names propagating through different published papers.

Fungal taxonomy, not fun.

 

[fresh_42]

That's what I used to call apatosaurus when I was a kid. :)

-Dan

Fungal taxonomy, not fun.

 

[pinball1970]

View attachment 316757

The most ridiculous name ever?

• Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis

And yes of course it's Welsh. Perhaps a couple of PhD students got the crazy idea that if they could isolate a novel species from (that place) then the binomial would be pretty damn long.
if not the longest.

 

[topsquark]

The most ridiculous name ever?

• Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis

And yes of course it's Welsh. Perhaps a couple of PhD students got the crazy idea that if they could isolate a novel species from (that place) then the binomial would be pretty damn long.
if not the longest.

Oh, I don't know. Captain Kirk's favorite bird is the Khaan.

-Dan

 

[Ibix]

Oh, I don't know. Captain Kirk's favorite bird is the Khaan.

I thought Captain Kirk's favourite bird was the one with the green skin...

 

[hmmm27]

I thought Captain Kirk's favourite bird was the one with the green skin...

I recently read about the machinations Gene Roddenberry went through to get Majel Barrett (later Mrs Roddenberry) into the original series as Nurse Chapel, after the original original pilot had her as "Number One".

Also, it was postulated that Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand, first season) should have been kept on to provide a foil to Kirk's womanizing.

 

[.Scott]

You can always depend on Iceland for words that are neither pronounceable no spell-able.
As with: Eyjafjallajökull

In High School Physics, I was told that the 1-letter lower case decimal prefixes such as 'm' and 'd' designated multipliers less than 1 while upper case 1-letter prefixes such as 'M' and 'D' designated multipliers greater than 1.
That rule (if it ever really existed) is violated so often that US NIST (standards) now draws the line at 1000. So 'kilo' is 'k', 'hecto' is 'h', and 'deka' is 'da'.
Although 'k' for kilo is the SI standard, more often than not, KBaud, Kbit, and Kbytes are more often 'K' than 'k'.

 

[jrmichler]

I live on a flowage fed by a creek that was recently renamed Aabajijiwani-ziibiinsing because the previous name was derogatory to Native American women. One person tried to find the meaning of the name. He was only able to find a Native American that thought that the second word means creek or river. Google translate finds nothing. We have not yet figured out how to pronounce the new name.

 

[Frabjous]

Nucular

 

[Orodruin]

Although 'k' for kilo is the SI standard, more often than not, KBaud, Kbit, and Kbytes are more often 'K' than 'k'.

1 kbit = 1000 bit
1 Kbit = 1024 bit
The latter not being SI standard but JEDEC standard iirc.

 

[Baluncore]

A scientific and technical spell checker should detect incomplete units.
"gallon" or "gal " should not pass. Use gal(US) or gal(imp).
"ton " should not pass. Use ton(short), ton(long), or metric "tonne", which is 1000 kg.

 

[Baluncore]

Are malapropisms classed as spelling errors ?
“To be pacific”, is commonly replacing "to be specific".
January should be followed by February, not Febuary.
Then hydroscopic instruments are used to look into deep water, while hygroscopic materials take up moisture from the atmosphere.
People now “hone in”, where I would “home in”. I use hone while fine finishing surfaces or cutting edges.
There is a minuscule problem with miniscule.

 

[Svein]

And the common mistake "Wein.bridge" (wine-bridge) which should of course be Wien bridge.
To be precise: Wien is the correct name of the city of Vienna, Wein is wine.
And another: The Norwegian word "malstrøm" (meaning grind-stream) is almost always miswritten as "maelstrom" (which would be "mælstrøm" which is meaningless). What is it with the English and diphtongs?

 

[Baluncore]

What is it with the English and diphtongs?

I assume you meant diphthongs.

 

[Orodruin]

What is it with the English and diphtongs?

They probably discussed it over a nice smouergeausbeurd.
Actually… that’s probably just Scanian accent …

 

[Svein]

I assume you meant diphthongs.

Of course - I have never seen it spelled in English and the spellchecker did not react.

By the way - the Norwegian/Danish "ø" is the same letter and sound as the "ö" and is pronounced as the vowel sound in "first".

smouergeausbeurd

That is a Swedish expression and is written "smörgåsbord". I do not know the English equivalent - it translates sloppily as "sandwich-table" (not a table made of sandwiches, but a serving-table with all kinds of sandwiches).
Actually, English has lots of words with Scandinavian roots - check out .

 

[topsquark]

And the common mistake "Wein.bridge" (wine-bridge) which should of course be Wien bridge.
To be precise: Wien is the correct name of the city of Vienna, Wein is wine.
And another: The Norwegian word "malstrøm" (meaning grind-stream) is almost always miswritten as "maelstrom" (which would be "mælstrøm" which is meaningless). What is it with the English and diphtongs?

Actually, maelstrom is the accepted English spelling. I don't know why as the a shouldn't have been translated to an æ. Butthe English speakers aren't wrong, the lexicographers were!

-Dan

 

[DrGreg]

Actually, maelstrom is the accepted English spelling. I don't know why as the a shouldn't have been translated to an æ. Butthe English speakers aren't wrong, the lexicographers were!

But English-language lexicographers don't invent spellings and meanings of words; they observe and record how words are already being used in the real English-speaking world. So if sufficient numbers of people use a "wrong" spelling, the wrong spelling becomes right.

 

[Orodruin]

That is a Swedish expression and is written "smörgåsbord". I do not know the English equivalent - it translates sloppily as "sandwich-table" (not a table made of sandwiches, but a serving-table with all kinds of sandwiches).
Actually, English has lots of words with Scandinavian roots - check out .

I am aware. I am Swedish.
The word itself (ö and å replaced by o and a) is actually the correct English and an excellent example of a word borrowed from Swedish to English.

 

[Orodruin]

Wiktionary claims the English word maelstrom originates in old Dutch word maelstroom (modern Dutch being maalstroom). The exact relation to the Nordic version is not discussed but likely of common origin.

 

[fresh_42]

The german version Mahlstrom (sometimes Malstrom) means vortex and comes from the dutch word maalstrom (malen = drehen = turning).

 

[Baluncore]

Another malapropism.
For all intents and purposes is becoming for all intensive purposes.

 

[Klystron]

...
That is a Swedish expression and is written "smörgåsbord". I do not know the English equivalent ...

A common North American English equivalent buffet likely derives from French. A buffet features a variety of self-serve dishes sometimes anchored by a chef slicing roast meats. Participants serve themselves from hot and cold trays arranged in lines, juggling warmed or chilled plates, able to call out delectable choices to acquaintances.

My adopted home state of Nevada transforms this cafeteria experience into an extravaganza of excess, raising smörgåsbord to high art with certain hot dishes made to order by sous-chefs and icy cold desserts compiled by a friendly confectioner. Notwithstanding this interesting variety, even pre-pandemic, I prefer restaurants that bring food and drinks to guests at their table to balancing loaded plates from buffet line to table and back again.

The first smörgåsbord restaurant my family frequented in the then tiny town of Cupertino CA named "Fiords" featured Scandanavian folk music and dancing on holidays amid tasty 'family' foods.

 

[Ibix]

Another malapropism.
For all intents and purposes is becoming for all intensive purposes.

Or for all intense porpoises.

 

[Baluncore]

Cupertino CA

This thread is about spelling, so I should mention that the town is also known for the Cupertino effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupertino_effect

 

[martinbn]

" In a lecture series on approximation theory, Besicovitch announced, "zere is no 't' in ze name Chebysov" (P. Chebychev, 1821-1894). Two weeks later he said, "Ve now introduce ze class of T-polynomials. They are called T-polynomials because T is ze first letter of ze name Chebyshov."

 

[mpresic3]

I was told of a test where the spell check changed the words and the examiners did not catch the change.

At one point during the test, the question asked for the periapsis. The spell check changed this to a biological word regarding reproduction. Later in the same test a question regarded mensuration. Again the spell check changed this with a biological meaning.