To feel intense irritation that people keep mispelling this word

[Anenome]

Lately...on FB and various other internet communities I keep reading the word "Boak" or "Boke" when people are describing themselves being disgusted by something...surely they mean "Balk"

It really annoys me! I'm not a spelling and grammar Nazi....I'm not perfect by any means!

But this...aaaaagggggghhhhhh! It GETS TO ME

ha!

the word is boak. To upchuck or hurl
they don't mean to balk..

Boak is a Scots word for vomit

Hahahaha

YABU to think they are spelling it wrong when in fact you just don't know the word.

It's Scottish in origin.

It is boak not balk (Scottish slang)

Oh....ha! Yuk! Well...that's me told!

Doens't 'balk' mean to kind of pause/retreat from something (in horror/disgust)? I think 'boak' is more like retching.

isn't it baulk anyway ?

I never knew it was Scottish :)

OP - would you like a cup of tea and a biscuit? Or would that make you boke?

Oh, x-posted with everyone.

Balking is what I imagine posh people like the Camerons do. A good old fashioned boak is far more satisfying.

Baulk is like baulkhead which is a bit of a ship or something

boak or boke (I think probably the former) is indeed a Scots word meaning "gag". It's onomoatopoeic - imagine the sound that you make just before you actually vomit = "boak".

Balk has a completely different meaning - if you balk at doing something it means you will avoid or refuse to do it

And yes, it's 'baulk'.

We boak a lot here in Belfast as well

Hehe take that you pedant

I always say barf, much more onomatopoeic

@ this thread.

Yes, 'balk' is the definitely the posher of the two options.

and you misspelt misspell, too.

it's Boak - kind of pronounced "baaaawwwwwkk" like you are vomitting.

not balk as in don't like it.

baulk is a snooke rterm - it's the top end of the table.

I thought balk meant to refuse to do something-not necessarily anything to do with disgust at all.

pedant, petard
Petard, pedant

poor op

it does, diddl.

jsut googled baulk and it's also used in baseball -

it's bulk in shipbuilding, as previously mentioned -

Balk:

1. to stop, as at an obstacle, and refuse to proceed or to do something specified (usually fol. by at ): He balked at making the speech.
2. (of a horse, mule, etc.) to stop short and stubbornly refuse to go on.
3. Baseball . to commit a balk.

Baulk: variant of balk

Boak: a variant spelling of boke

Boke:
? vb

1. to retch or vomit

? n

1. a retch; vomiting fit

The preferred spellng on MN is the Scottish Boak

And its "misspelling".