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Sometimes, even the best of us hvae tourble seplling. Other times, we forget even the most basic, ummm, what were they called? Mouth sounds? Pen squiggles? Words! It’s nothing to be ashamed of and, if we can learn to laugh at ourselves for messing up, it’s a great source of entertainment for our friends… and the internet.

Bored Panda has collected the funniest times that people forgot how to use the English language online and this resulted in some giggle-worthy moments. Have a look, upvote your fave mistakes and hilarious moments, and let us know in the comments which words you have the most problems spelling, dear Pandas. (For me, Massachusetts is hard to spell but Mississippi is easy.) Check out our earlier post about the times that people had no idea how to spell ‘quarantine’ correctly, too.

Dr. Lisa McLendon from the University of Kansas School of Journalism and the Coordinator at the Bremner Editing Center explained to Bored Panda why we sometimes forget basic words, why we tend to have trouble spelling correctly, and what we can do to improve. Scroll down for our full interview with her.

#3

Brainfart

Brainfart

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Ami Temi
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have to make sure that doorbell systems and security cameras work properly and that someone cannot enter your house by hacking or messing with your lock. Writing some instructions for a colleague, it took me several minutes to remember the word "monitor", which I use probably 50 times/day. Instead, I had these very imaginative words in my head that were not helping. Our brains are weird...

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Kathy Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More like “brain cramp” than “brain fart”, I think. They don’t only happen when you get older. They can happen to younger folks who are over stressed, sleep deprived, distracted, or trying to multitask way too many things (which has been confirmed to be impossible to do adequately, and only leads to making a shitload of mistakes).

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John Montgomery
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like brain cramp better. Brain fart, by bad, and old school have always annoyed me.

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mikedtw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Worked in an ad agency with a guy from Sweden. He got totally exasperated trying to get the idea of "gums" across, but came up with "dental meat" - and it worked!

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Bryan Hu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a brainfart once and didn't know that s-h-o-e was shoe. I kept on saying "What's a S'hoe?"

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Abhinav Thomas
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just happened with me today infront of my students. I forgot the word non renewable resources and explained it using long sentences.

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Andrea Careless
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I once was talking about how all the hippies used to sit around playing their guitars. But somehow my brain called the guitars "umbrellas." Yep, those umbrellas make a mean sound.

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Bob Belcher
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No worries. I still remember when I was in 2nd grade I could remember how to spell "of" for a day. I kept spelling it "ov".

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Hinchess
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still remember being so embarrassed in 5th grade. Had to ask teacher how to spell "any". I knew "inny" wasn't right. Couldn't look it up in the dictionary.

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Elizabeth Butler
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can't look it up if you can't spell it. Especially frustrating if initial sound is not reflected in the initial letters.

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Elizabeth Butler
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I learned there is actually a word for that random black hole that wanders around the brain landing on perfectly familiar words and names on occasion. LETHOLOGICA literally death of words.

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Vanta Black
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The important question is; did he remember the name himself, or did one of his colleagues manage to understand him, and explain it?

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Sk8_boy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I forgot the name for a loan sharpie oh wait its called a parents worst nightmare

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Dr. McLendon told Bored Panda that forgetting words is more of a cognitive question than one of grammar or language. “People forget words (and other information) all the time and it’s not a sign of deeper memory problems, it just means they have a temporary blip in ‘retrieval.’ Not surprisingly, this happens more if someone’s tired or stressed out or distracted.”

According to the News and Information Track Chair at the University of Kansas, our troubles with spelling are related to us living in the modern world where a lot of the checking and editing is done for us.

“Because spell-check and autocorrect are everywhere, what seems to be the biggest problem is words that are spelled correctly but aren’t the right word, like ‘form’ instead of ‘from,’ ‘it’s’ instead of ‘its,’ or ‘defiantly’ instead of ‘definitely.’”

#4

They Overheard The Customer Say "It's Steven, Spelled With A Ph"

They Overheard The Customer Say "It's Steven, Spelled With A Ph"

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#5

My Name Is Noah. Everyone Spells It Wrong. I Though There Was One Place That Would Get It Right

My Name Is Noah. Everyone Spells It Wrong. I Though There Was One Place That Would Get It Right

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Dr. McLendon gave us a couple of tips that can help us improve if we’re embarrassed by our spelling mistakes.

“Read carefully over what you’ve written, to make sure you—or autocorrect—didn’t use the wrong word or misuse an apostrophe. Know yourself well enough to know where you usually make mistakes. For instance, I frequently type ‘form’ when I mean ‘from,’ so whenever I finish a document, I do a search for ‘form’ so I can catch the wrong usages,” she said.

“If your writing is going to be seen by a broader audience, have someone else read over it. When you’ve written something, your brain already knows what you’re thinking and what you meant to say, even if you didn’t actually say it.So when you read your own writing, you unconsciously fill in missing words, skip over typos, fail to see ambiguity, etc.”

The expert continued: “Another person, someone who sees only what’s on the page and not what’s in your head, can help you spot mistakes and improve your writing. This is especially important if you are carving something in stone or getting a tattoo with words in it.”

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#9

Car Liked That

Car Liked That

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GirlFriday
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My nephew called it "Go Juice" for a long time. If we had to stop for gas, he would ask, "Is the car thirsty for Go Juice?" Now that he is driving, we often ask him if his car is thirsty or if he needs money for Go Juice.

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Conditions like dyslexia, ADHD, and dysgraphia can affect people’s spelling and it takes lots of dedication to overcome these challenges. Keep in mind that nobody’s making fun of people who have genuine trouble spelling—it’s a completely different topic altogether.

But plenty of people without any conditions mess up when it comes to English, too, and it can lead to some genuinely funny situations. However, nobody should be embarrassed about making spelling mistakes. They’re a great way to improve and we only fail if we give up on growing.

Case in point—I used to mess up writing ‘embarrassed’ but my teacher taught me that an easy way to remember the spelling is that when you’re embarrassed, you’re so red that it doubles the r’s and the s’s.

#10

Liquid Zoo

Liquid Zoo

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Vic
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Once this covid is done, I'll take my son to solid aquarium, to see tigers and lions

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Funnily enough, the word ‘embarrassment’ was the most difficult word to spell for British people, according to Word Counter (odds are, you've used their word counting program if you've ever written an essay for school or college).

Some other hard-to-spell words for Brits were fluorescent, accommodate, psychiatrist, and occasionally. Darn those inconsistent double consonants!

Meanwhile, some of the main words that Americans asked Google how to spell correctly include grey, definitely, pneumonia, appreciate, Hanukkah, and restaurant.

#16

I Salute You

I Salute You

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#17

Water Hungry

Water Hungry

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Deborah Brett
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's when you think you are hungry, but actually you are thirsty. It's the reason for the 'drink a glass of water and wait 10 minutes' weight-watching tactic.

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#18

Pararara Pararara Teethman

Pararara Pararara Teethman

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#19

Great Way To Spell A Great President

Great Way To Spell A Great President

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Kesam
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wasn't he friends with that The Odor Roo Swell guy? Or was it Rich Art Nick Son?

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#22

A Real Sciencer

A Real Sciencer

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Tiny Dynamine
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It reminds me of when I was a kid and couldn't remember what people from Germany were called. I was thinking "Germish?" Funny I still have that memory about 40 years later!

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#23

Poor Alan

Poor Alan

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#27

My Name (Kinzi) Is Always Spelled Wrong As Well, But This One From Starbucks Wins The Prize

My Name (Kinzi) Is Always Spelled Wrong As Well, But This One From Starbucks Wins The Prize

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#28

Need Some Of That Good Old Water On Face

Need Some Of That Good Old Water On Face

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#30

Portal Potty

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Note: this post originally had 72 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.