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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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We had a brief exchange about the spelling of this word, parishioner, on the anagram thread (W & F) today. All of us felt the spelling was incorrect and I speculated it was simply an anachronistic usage that has since changed. But, lo and behold! A search on OneLook indicates parishioner is correct! Fourteen hits for this spelling, including all the major dictionaries. NOT ONE HIT for parishoner sans the second "i". (and I once considered myself an impeccable speller...sigh)
Is there a word for words like this that seem misspelled when actually correct?
Can anyone come up with other words that look wrong even though they're right?
I guess parishioner has some precedent in concert with the word fashion..any other -ion's after an sh- words?
Did -shion evolve onto -tion, or vice versa?...and, if so, why and when?
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
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>All of us felt the spelling was incorrect
I must have missed that thread - parishoner looks horrible to me. I've never seen the word spelled that way before, and wouldn't have imagined that anybody ever has, until I saw this post.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Parishoner looks wrong to me, too.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Juan: *rolling eyes*The comedy team of ASping & TEdster are hereby put on official notice that when they get done egging my face, that someday, somewhere, somehow, I will retaliate with gooey omelettes!  ...just to let you know. 
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Joined: Oct 2001
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2001
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Can anyone come up with other words that look wrong even though they're right?
How about:
"neighbour", "traveller", "catalogue", "millennium",
"centre". What do we call words that have this misleading appearance? Proper english?
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Joined: Jan 2002
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320 |
More words that look wrong:
sacrilegious
minuscule
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Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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What do we call words that have this misleading appearance? Proper english?Thank you for so "cogently" pointing that out to me, wm. Excuse me, but I feel another case of meidung coming on... 
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Joined: Oct 2001
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Is there a word for words like this that seem misspelled when actually correct?
If there isn't such a word, W'ON, perhaps we should create one.
May I propose meritricious in juxtaposition to "meretricious", something which is "tawdrily and falsely attractive"?
Thus, a meritricious word is one which is meritorious in spite of the fact that it appears falsely unattractive.
In mythology, it was commonplace for gods and goddesses (not to mention heroes like Ulysses) to disguise themselves as mendicants to test the metal of ambitious mortals.
A meritricious word performs the same function for linguistic purists [of which, I hasten to say, I am not one]. It flushes out the unworthy.
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newbie
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newbie
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 36 |
The choir with which I sang while in college took a short trip through East Texas, singing in various churches and staying with the parishioners. When I told my roommate that we had gone to, among other towns, Paris, TX, she said, completely seriously, "I didn't know that's what you call people in Paris."
Don't ask!
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