Words that don't exist in English:

[LemonMeringueThreePointOneFour]

Alot
Eachother
Ect
Inbetween
Infront
Non
Thankyou
Que
Wether

Please feel free to add your own.

I used to work with someone who attempted to use 'long' words but could never pronounce them as he was actually a bit thick. He used to say 'deprimental'. Another one was 'supterfuge'. It made my teeth itch.

@KaptainKaveman

I used to work with someone who attempted to use 'long' words but could never pronounce them as he was actually a bit thick. He used to say 'deprimental'. Another one was 'supterfuge'. It made my teeth itch.

I worked with someone like that quite a few years ago, as English isn’t my first language I would sometimes pretend I didn’t understand and ask what x word meant.

[quote thistimelastweek]@MagnoliaBeige I love it.

Those that are genuinely interested in words and meanings versus those that want to sneer at spelling and grammar mistakes.[/quote]
Sounds as if we need to invent some terms for those!

@Isthisit22

Guttered is a Scottish word meaning very drunk

@KaptainKaveman

I used to work with someone who attempted to use 'long' words but could never pronounce them as he was actually a bit thick. He used to say 'deprimental'. Another one was 'supterfuge'. It made my teeth itch.

I quite like 'supterfuge' -- it could mean 'secretly making yourself a hot drink and a snack before bedtime without offering to do so for anyone else'.

What bugs me when people use "alot" and "abit": why do they then not go on to use "aman", "alittle" or "awoman"?

That was certainly how anorange became an orange I think (from naranja.)

That was certainly how anorange became an orange I think (from naranja.)

Interesting

www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-norange.html

there never has been a word 'norange' in English, but there very nearly was.

...

Oranges originated in South-east Asia and when they arrived in Persia and Spain they were given the names 'narang' and 'naranja' respectively.

As they got nearer to England, and hence nearer to requiring a name in English, they lost the 'n'. This happened on their journey through France, where they were known as 'pomme d'orenge'.

In English, the indefinite article may be 'a' or 'an', depending on whether it is followed by a word which starts with a consonant or a vowel. When the consonant is an 'n', we may run into the 'a norange'/'an orange' confusion

...

The misaligning of word boundaries can go the other way too, with the 'n' being added rather than lost. The best known examples of that are 'nickname' and 'newt', which were originally 'an eke-name' and 'an ewt'.

Apparently we didn't have a word for orange before oranges made it here - that's why robins are said to have a red breasts when it's actually orange.

Dave Gorman did several sketches about misheard phrases

@IgiveupallthenamesIwantedareg0

Que is a real word - for example, to que someone when to do or say something i.e. a prompter im a theatre or a stage management assistant queing someone that they are next due out on the stage.

No that's cue.

It's cue or queue, depending on context.

Que is always wrong in English.

Napkins were originally apkins. There was confusion over the indefinite article, so eventually an apkin became a napkin.

No that's cue.

Thank god you came on to the thread to point out this mistake!!

I, sadly, raise you 'innit' 🤮

@AliceinBorderland

Недоперепил - Russian word meaning not over drunk. Drunk more than you should have but less that you could have I think iirc is the literal translation. Not equivalent exists in English

Oh wait this thread is mock people who may just have had an autocorrect fail.

My phone will not separate alot unless I force it to.

Yes “tiddly” doesn’t quite cover it.

How do you pronounce it? I’m bringing it into common usage.

I really love that the Japanese have a word for the kind of joy that comes with a pang of sadness from the anticipation of the imminent loss of the cause of joy. So you see some stunning cherry blossom and your heart bursts with joy but you also know that it will be all gone very soon so it comes with a pang of melancholy.
I wish I could remember what the word was in Japanese but I feel this quite often and it would be great to have a word for it.

I'd quite like to know when instinctive became instinctual which I seem to see everywhere now. Did it always exist, it's it just me, or is it a weird switch started by somebody somewhere.

ur for 'your'
Drives me insane

@TopCatsTopHat

I really love that the Japanese have a word for the kind of joy that comes with a pang of sadness from the anticipation of the imminent loss of the cause of joy. So you see some stunning cherry blossom and your heart bursts with joy but you also know that it will be all gone very soon so it comes with a pang of melancholy. I wish I could remember what the word was in Japanese but I feel this quite often and it would be great to have a word for it.

Love this. Some googling took me to 'setsunai'. What a great word.

Oh wonderful! Thanks, I feel setsunai when I hold my daughters hand sometimes which is less these days than it used to be. It's such a lengthy explanation in English, now all we need is to adopt it so everyone understands it! 😆

@TopCatsTopHat I know what you mean! When you try to savour a happy moment because you know one day you'll want it back.. yet you don't want to ruin it by worrying about it being over. Setsunai!

That's a fabulous word. I did just also want to suggest "mono no aware" as it's specifically about sensitivity to the transience /ephemeral nature of things.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_no_aware

@Alonelonelylonersbadidea

That's exactly what a wallah is *@MrsAvocet* and I use it all the time. I love it! Did the person above really mean wallah or voilà?

They meant when people mistake Wallah for Voila.

Ahem. From Enc Brit:

The organization of the United Company of Barber Surgeons of London in 1540 marked the beginning of some control of the qualifications of those who performed operations. This guild was the precursor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

@MacMahon

Napkins were originally apkins. There was confusion over the indefinite article, so eventually an apkin became a napkin.

No they weren't.

A napkin is a little nap - from Old French nappe, tablecloth (cf napery). From the same Latin root as map, apparently.

@Lunaduckdrop

I'd call that a bungee. In my husband's family "gribbly" means grated. As in "I'll gribble the cheese".

Ah, now to me a bungee is a much bigger elastic rope that braver souls than me might jump off a bridge holding on to.
I like the idea of "gribbling" the cheese though. Is that a dialect word from somewhere?

His family's made up word I'm assuming. He's half Scottish and grew up in the East Midlands.

But that's not how most people are using it. They are misspelling Voilà.

I've never come across that before, but I've often seen people misspell "voilà" as "viola." I particularly notice that one because I used to play the viola. When there's an actual viola no-one gets its name right, but the word has a life of its own in this totally different context.

Squish. But I still use it.