RobinZ comments on Open Thread: February 2010, part 2 - Less Wrong

10 Post author: CronoDAS 16 February 2010 08:29AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (857)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: RobinZ 18 February 2010 08:15:45PM 1 point [-]

Very frequently, someone who is bad at spelling will confuse two homonyms. On occasion, such a person will declare that their convention is correct in the face of all opposition. The comments you - who are amused by word substitutions - have written could equally have been written by an arrogant ignoramus.

If you want to make a joke by substituting "quail" for "quale", you need to set it up more explicitly.

(Regarding the substitution of "wang" for "wand": "wang" is not an expected typographical or orthographical error for "wand" - as the letters "d" and "g" are separated and the sounds "nd" and "ng" are likewise distinguished - so the substitution is unlikely to be accidental. That doesn't hold here.)

Comment author: Tyrrell_McAllister 18 February 2010 10:56:47PM 1 point [-]

Very frequently, someone who is bad at spelling will confuse two homonyms.

The joke was further obscured because "quale" and "quail" aren't homonyms. "Quale" rhymes with "Wally", not "trail".

Comment author: RobinZ 18 February 2010 11:32:51PM 0 points [-]

...did not know that, actually. Thanks!