Marshmallow and Other Common Spelling Traps

Marshmallow and Other Common Spelling Traps Marshmallow and Other Common Spelling Traps Marshmallow and Other Common Spelling Traps By Maeve Maddox This sentence on a grammar site is intended to illustrate the use of the colon: It is time for the babys birthday party: a white cake, strawberry-marshmellow ice cream, and a bottle of champagne saved from another party. (Joan Didion) The use of the colon is fine, but a word is misspelled. I wouldn’t swear that Joan Didion is the one responsible for the misspelling. The error could have occurred during transcription. Nevertheless, a great many people do misspell the word for that puffy white thing: marshmallow. The confection got its name from a plant called a marshmallow. The roastable marshmallow was made originally from the mucilaginous root of the marshmallow plant. Note: I got the word mucilaginous from the OED definition for the plant. Doesn’t sound like something I’d want to eat. Nowadays marshmallows get their puffiness from gelatin. Here are some examples of other tricky words that may trip up otherwise competent spellers: 1. Wheelbarrow Incorrect: I mow the lawn [and] dump the bag in a wheelbarrel to add to the compost. Correct : I mow the lawn [and] dump the bag in a wheelbarrow to add to the compost. One meaning of barrow that has been in the language for a very long time is â€Å"a utensil for carrying a load.† A barrow with a wheel attached is a wheelbarrow. 2. Cemetery Incorrect: This is a beautiful cemetary to take a stroll through on a sunny Savannah day. Correct : This is a beautiful cemetery to take a stroll through on a sunny Savannah day. Incorrect: Ive always found old cemetaries to be a peaceful spot for an afternoon walk. Correct : Ive always found old cemeteries to be a peaceful spot for an afternoon walk. The trick to getting this word right is to remember that all three vowels are represented by the letter e. English cemetery comes via French from a Greek word that meant â€Å"a place to sleep,† like a dormitory. Early Christian writers were the first to make cemetery the usual word for a burial ground. 3. Dalmatian Incorrect: Slick - the two-year-old Dalmation mascot of Charleston Fire Station 10 - is back where he belongs after a six-day disappearance. Correct : Slick - the two-year-old Dalmatian mascot of Charleston Fire Station 10 - is back where he belongs after a six-day disappearance. Historically, Dalmatia was a region in the vicinity of Croatia. The Dalmatian dog traces its roots to that region. To get the spelling right, note the three a’s. 4. German shepherd Incorrect: For sale: pedigree german shephard puppies $500. Correct : For sale: pedigree German shepherd puppies $500. It seems to me that anyone selling puppies for $500 ought to be able to spell the name of the breed correctly. The AP Stylebook rule for capitalizing breed names is to capitalize only the part of the name that derives from a proper noun. One reason people may have trouble with spelling the common noun shepherd is that the word has produced family names with a variety of spellings, such as Shepard,  Sheppard,  Shephard  and  Shepperd. When spelling the name of the breed, the thing to remember is that the word shepherd is a combination of sheep + herd. A shepherd is a sheep herder. Think shep+herd. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?Expanded and ExtendedA "Diploma" is not a "Degree"