Why can't people spell "faint"?

[Cookerhood]

I keep seeing "feint" instead of "faint" on Covid test threads. Why? Surely "faint" is a simple word with "feint" being more unusual?
(I've now typed it so often that both look odd )

@JaneJeffer

Feint is the correct word

Not for ' I feel faint '

@TheFoldOx I notice it a lot on television.

eurochick there is one poster in particular who always uses 'fir' instead of 'for'. Distinctive. Several others use it quite a bit, could be a typo.

@JaneJeffer

Feint is the correct word

It's a 'Mid 19th century variant of faint.' (Some dictionaries don't seem to list it at all with this meaning, just the 'deception' one) So - not completely incorrect, but there's absolutely no reason to use it instead of the commoner 'faint' in this context.

I've wondered why 'feint' appears so often as a typo for 'faint'. Feint is a much more niche word.

Where/were pisses me off a lot too.

I’m in Liverpool, I get it that in the accent they sound the same. But so do furry and fairy.

It’s a faint line on a test. Definitely. I’m quite sure. Feint - as per the second definition stated above - literally refers only to the lines on paper (unless you’re referring to the first which makes no sense in the context of pregnancy/Covid testing).

I’ll let people off on discreet/discrete only because I have to look them up myself as I can never remember the right one!

This is exactly the way I was taught to determine if it should be and I or and me

Quote didn't work then, but I was replying to @TheFoldOx

@Masdintle

eurochick there is one poster in particular who always uses 'fir' instead of 'for'. Distinctive. Several others use it quite a bit, could be a typo.

I think it's a typo. I seem to do it a lot. Also abs for and 🙄

I have never seen this.

My DD can't spell. Teachers think she is dyslexic but she hasn't been officially diagnosed. She spends ages learning her spellings every night and gets them all wrong every morning. I really worry that she will feel bad about this her whole life as pointing out that other people can't spell seems to be a bit of a hobby for some people.

@JaneJeffer

Feint is the correct word

Exactly - how can people not know this?? I really don't understand this thread

Feint is not the correct spelling for the word that means a line on a COVID test is pale and barely visible. Faint is the correct spelling for that.

@Dontlooksup

I have never seen this.

My DD can't spell. Teachers think she is dyslexic but she hasn't been officially diagnosed. She spends ages learning her spellings every night and gets them all wrong every morning. I really worry that she will feel bad about this her whole life as pointing out that other people can't spell seems to be a bit of a hobby for some people.

That's why I put it in pedant's corner rather than mentioning it on the threads in question. To those who think "feint" is correct, see sttached

www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/feint

The main meaning of feint is:

feint
in British English
(feɪnt)
NOUN

1. a mock attack or movement designed to distract an adversary, as in a military manoeuvre or in boxing, fencing, etc
2. a misleading action or appearance

VERB

1. (intransitive)

to make a feint Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Word origin C17: from French feinte, from feint pretended, from Old French feindre to feign

The much less common meaning is this one, which some people here are saying had led to this confusion.

feint
in British English
(feɪnt)
NOUN
printing
the narrowest rule used in the production of ruled paper
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
C19: variant of faint

So do people think faint only related to fainting and therefore pale lines need a different word? Is that why people use the wrong spelling?

Great mistake to try and apply logic to English spelling!

Though
Thought
Thorough
Through
Trough

Relates

I’ll let people off on discreet/discrete only because I have to look them up myself as I can never remember the right one!

Discrete = Crete is an island, therefore on its own. Discrete means a single point (or whatever).

Any other use use discreet.

That's how I remember it!

Heard a new one today - 'one foul swoop'! An Instagrammer kept saying it and I was shrieking 'it's fell, not foul' at my iPad.

None stick pan
Reign it in
Low and behold

Reign it in

Ah now rein/reign is definitely my weakness. I never get that right.

Ad a PP said many of these mistakes are artefacts of autocorrect, i sometimes miss them myself of I'm typing a text message in haste, especially if i dont have my glasses on!

The once that gets me is faze/phase .... but there are a whole lot of others.

Reign is what the Queen does
Reins are straps that control how far/fast a horse goes

Yes it's "free rein" not "free reign" - it's referencing horses not monarchs!!!!!