Misspelt Word of the Day

Wallet parking

2011-06-15T17:42:00.001+05:30

Valet parking, that is.

temproary in convinience

2010-09-03T10:52:00.001+05:30

Temporary inconvenience!

saterday

2010-08-08T09:38:00.001+05:30

Saturday parties...

confrance

2010-08-07T10:16:00.000+05:30

Con France or conference?

costomers

2010-08-06T10:13:00.001+05:30

A different kind of customers!

experess

2010-02-11T09:09:00.001+05:30

Expressing oneself differently...

supreem

2010-01-08T10:23:00.001+05:30

Supreme hotel

Sher

2009-09-24T13:11:00.003+05:30

Today I came across a "share auto" called "sher auto". Sher means lion in Hindi, so it must be the lion among the share autos in that part of the city.
Two days back, there was another share auto calling itself Meter Texi.
And a small wayside joint selling bajji and pups (puffs). From Hot Dogs to Hot Pups, Chennai has it all :)

interdusing

2009-09-17T10:39:00.002+05:30

Introducing an actress at a theatre...

Beff

2009-09-09T14:26:00.002+05:30

A small restaurant near the Nungambakkam railway station sells Beff Biriyani.

blong, tresspass

2009-08-04T10:39:00.002+05:30

This is where blong belongs.

And an 's' trespasses to make the trespass tresspass.

typhod

2009-06-27T13:37:00.002+05:30

This was sent by my brother:

An advertisement by a roadside quack in the market in Juba, Southern Sudan. Clicked by one of my colleagues, Ann.

There are a lot of amusing photo opportunities, but in post-conflict Juba, people are still deeply suspicious of cameras.

pumkin

2009-05-29T10:41:00.003+05:30

Pumpkin becomes pumkin and water melon becomes water milon at a fruit juice shop in Mount Road, Chennai.

Choclate

2009-05-10T23:01:00.002+05:30

Today's special ice creams & spellings:
Chocolate and strawberry and toffee are the casualties at an ice-cream parlour...

battary

2009-04-16T10:21:00.001+05:30

Check the spelling of battery on the bus.

puncher

2009-03-14T10:51:00.002+05:30

Puncture and pressure are misspelt at a mechanic shop.

Luxary

2009-03-07T10:47:00.000+05:30

Luxury travel

visting

2009-03-04T10:36:00.001+05:30

Visiting cards come cheap, so dont crib if a spelling or two is amiss ...

drycleners

2009-03-01T10:35:00.000+05:30

Drycleaners!

Black current

2009-02-14T23:02:00.001+05:30

An electrifying drink using black currants available here.

Butterflys

2009-01-09T12:36:00.001+05:30

From Misspelt Word of the Day

Giving butterflies in the tummy...

Tinkaring

2008-12-12T13:11:00.002+05:30

A mechanic shop in Aminjikarai offers tinkaring services among others.
Tinkering with spelling in the process.

Coffey

2008-11-24T15:35:00.000+05:30

After sendwitches, we got coffey houses.. great. So says Bhagirathy D Rat who sent this. Thank you Rathy.

Canter

2008-11-15T15:05:00.002+05:30

A teashop near the Nungambakkam station in Chennai is called Wilson Tea & Coffee Canter.
Some banter this centre provides!

bolds

2008-10-11T08:31:00.001+05:30

Now are these bold nuts or bolts & nuts?
Some nuts can be really bold :)

Tomatto

2008-10-10T08:29:00.000+05:30

Click inside the picture to view a magnified image of the discarded
wayside fastfood stall that once sold "tomatto rice" and curd rice
near College Road, Chennai.
Tomato, our motto.

wolve

2008-10-09T22:07:00.000+05:30

For a minute, I couldnt understand what this wolve was.
One wolf in hand is better than two wolves on the poster. :)

sheperd

2008-10-08T22:03:00.002+05:30

At the hairdresser's kids section, posters make up the wall. It turned out to be a delight for me. Plenty of spelling errors here - sheperd, vegitables and Siames.

Stuff that would make a German Shepherd and a Siamese Cat eat vegetables.

Embroydery

2008-10-07T13:27:00.004+05:30

A tailoring shop near the Blue Star bus stop in Anna Nagar offers embroydery services.
Boy! I am glad they didnt spell it embraaidery, which is the local term for it.
Embroydery! thy name is embroidery.

Paradaise

2008-10-01T15:34:00.001+05:30

Today, I come across a mobile showroom called Paradaise Mobiles.
Daisy, this is indeed paradise!

measurment

2008-09-30T13:02:00.001+05:30

The measurement of words...

Herbbals

2008-09-29T16:53:00.001+05:30

There is a Jyoti Herbbals on PH Road, Chennai.
Stammering herbs, I guess.

Wheller

2008-09-23T12:10:00.003+05:30

If you plan to take the train from Egmore station, dont forget to leave your two-wheeler at the "two wheller parking" lot near the station premises. :)

straightning

2008-09-12T20:50:00.001+05:30

Straightening some spellings here ... Make-up is mack-up and mehendi is mahendi.

faileure

2008-08-31T21:30:00.000+05:30

A clinic's failure to get spellings (sinusitist too) right.

Kinng

2008-08-29T15:19:00.005+05:30

This mail came from Jasleen in Canada.

"Hey there, Just got an opportunity to visit your blog "Misspelt Word of the Day". Pretty interesting! Cudn't resist sending you this BIG bollywood poster of "Singh Is Kin"n"g". The movie - Big hype in media and public, what are the directors and producers tryin to tell? Singh is what? KinNg? The word that doesn't even exist. Such a mortification for the Singhs all over the Globe. Would be great if you'll spread the word around! Thanks and good luck.

Cheers, Jasleen http://abyssoffaith.blogspot.com/"

p.s. I need to read up on why the director decided to add an extra N in King. That means I will have to look up another recent Bollywood churn Kismat Konnection and the Malayalam movie Kankaru (= kangaroo).

Bilding

2008-08-28T15:08:00.000+05:30

A shop selling cement bags says it offers "Bilding material".

Building trust.

chruch

2008-08-26T10:51:00.000+05:30

This is a typo I make often when I use the keyboard, but not when I write it out.

Onward we move, on the crutches of the church :)

quandity

2008-08-25T22:49:00.001+05:30

The quantity of mistakes (see also wodden cot below) on a blackboard in a home for the destitute I visited.

p.s. This is by no means published to ridicule the institution. But it is not everyday that I have a camera in hand and I couldnt resist this opportunity.

archa eolgical

2008-08-20T09:15:00.001+05:30

ASI gets its spelling wrong. Archaic logic.
No entry for vehicle, but vehicles maybe be allowed :)

Zodiyac

2008-08-19T21:00:00.001+05:30

Zodiac for the yak...

seperation

2008-08-18T22:15:00.002+05:30

Separation, a commonly misspelt word, today and everyday.

Why does the panchayat think that today has to be separated with a hyphen just like garbage?

Zerox

2008-08-14T11:35:00.003+05:30

Yesterday I came across a Sree Zerox on NM Road. Better than Geraax which is the way many locals pronounce Xerox.
Zero mistakes, perfect copying.

auto's

2008-08-13T12:45:00.000+05:30

This is a case of apostrophe abuse, not actually in my purview. But I cant help noticing them.
Stand auto's in place of stand autos.

complimentary

2008-08-10T12:29:00.000+05:30

No, this is not a spelling mistake. Just an error in usage. It should be complementary items...

In Broadway, Chennai.

Potata

2008-07-29T15:27:00.001+05:30

"For the first time in Chennai, lowest prices for tomato, onion and potata", announces a Reliance Fresh store near my place.

Tata, every other retailer. We are all rushing to Reliance Fresh.

grield sendvich

2008-07-25T12:37:00.002+05:30

Bhagirathy sends this sendvich: A menucard offering grield SOS sendvich. Save Our Souls! Could this be grilled sauce sandwich??
The Duke of Sandwich must be turning in his grave.

Entery

2008-07-24T13:46:00.001+05:30

Enter at your own peril.

This entry was sent by Bhagirathy. Thank you!

Ssweets

2008-07-23T10:50:00.000+05:30

Crazy numerology, for what should be Parvati Bhavan Sweets.

"Paar" excellence this sweet shop in goddess Parvati's name!

sandwitch

2008-07-22T16:42:00.001+05:30

Paarvati Bavan Ssweets (numerology at work) in Anna Nagar offers, apart from Indian sweets, chat items and sandwitches.

From when did witches start eating sandwiches?? Or are they sand-made witches?

Casate

2008-07-17T14:39:00.003+05:30

Nathan's Musicals near Aminjikarai offers casates and CD's. For a second, I thought he was selling casatta icecream slices instead of cassettes.
And there is an abundance of improper apostrophe use in the city. Why cant he write CDs instead of CD's?

chapels

2008-07-16T13:40:00.002+05:30

I know this doesnt look like a misspelt word - as long as you are talking about the chapels meant for Christian worship.
But not when you are referring to a pair of slippers. A shop on Choolaimedu sells leather goods including chapels. Would the shopowner mind not hurting my sentiments and add an extra 'p' at least? Make it chappel, though the Oxford Dictionary lists the word chappal for an Indian sandal.
Unless the shopkeeper has made-to-order chapels for Christendom ...

Glouses

2008-07-12T15:05:00.001+05:30

On the way to T Nagar from Mount Road, there is a shop that sells leather goods especially ladies' bags and glouses. Now is that gloves or leather blouses ??

Muttan

2008-07-09T18:34:00.001+05:30

A non-descript fast food joint on Mount Road, the arterial road in Chennai, sells Muttan biriyani. That must be from a a sun-tanned goat!

By the way, it is biriyani or briyani? The latter seems to be the preferred spelling for many biriyani eateries in the city.

Jeanious

2008-06-27T18:00:00.004+05:30

Yesterday in the bus, there was this youngster wearing a shirt that had a "Jeanious Jeans" logo on the back. The guy who designed the shirt must be a genius to call a shirt jeanious jeans.
I am not sure if this can actually be called a typo.

Forigen

2008-06-25T12:47:00.002+05:30

A roadside bookstall near the Anna Salai GPO mentions that Forigen books are available. Probably a portmanteau for books of foreign origin.

Energizor

2008-06-12T10:36:00.003+05:30

Energising drinks in an energizer/energiser menucard at ZamZam restaurant in the Kerala capital.

There is also the electric Black Current milkshake, hard-as-granite pomegranite and Mash melon (that must be musk melon).

proffessional

2008-06-01T23:31:00.001+05:30

Professional requirements at Trivandrum zoo.

fantacy

2008-05-09T10:19:00.002+05:30

Fantasy icecreams - even a Brown Sugar Sundae! And what is Belle dance - belly dancing by belles?

This one is a treasure house for typos - Manhatten, wallnuts, twince (twins?), chococlate...

playstaion

2008-05-09T10:18:00.002+05:30

A 'T' in playstation has gone for a walk...

favourate

2008-05-07T08:31:00.002+05:30

My favourite icecream...
Dont forget to try the leeches with icecream! Ugh.

p.s. I wonder what meteresh is?

Threds

2008-05-03T08:25:00.002+05:30

MOA Ganey & Co deals in laces, threads and buttons. In a wholesale street in Parrys Corner/Broadway.

Awaards

2008-05-01T20:23:00.000+05:30

If head&shoulders wants to sponsor an Awards nite called GV-SICA Awaards 2008, who am I to complain?

journy

2008-04-30T22:45:00.002+05:30

A shorter journey...
(Look behind the white car and there is a board: Journy never ends. Taken from an auto.)

Prown

2008-04-21T08:15:00.003+05:30

Prawn and other seafood snacks at a stall in Elliot's beach, Besant Nagar.

Omlet

2008-04-20T21:16:00.000+05:30

Hamlet's omelette - to eat or not to eat is the question...

Loadging

2008-04-18T08:17:00.001+05:30

A new hotel near the Egmore "Baby Hospital" providing boarding and lodging. Loaded with meaning, this loadging!

Citiy

2008-04-10T14:31:00.003+05:30

Sometimes, when on the road, one comes across autos right in front displaying a small board: Citiy Kit (for LPG conversion). That is for autos which want to shift from petrol to gas (though both mean the same in the US).
Maybe the owner got the spelling of city wrong.

Tailpiece: This wont qualify in misspelt but it is an quite amusing one. Today I came across a mini tempo carrier with a variation of the popular revised family planning slogan, We two, Ours one.
It said: We tow Ours one.

Engineerring

2008-04-02T08:34:00.001+05:30

Accent on Engineering!

Tiffan

2008-04-01T08:32:00.000+05:30

Click on the picture to view a magnified image of "Chennai Tiffan Center". Tiffin is a word popular in Tamil Nadu for breakfast and fast food.

And sometimes we dont mind using American spellings - such as center.

mazzanine

2008-03-20T10:48:00.002+05:30

Check out the spelling of mezzanine. Mazza aya?

powerfull

2008-03-19T10:46:00.000+05:30

Printing in full power. Powerful efforts...

Cigrett

2008-03-18T12:57:00.002+05:30

Another from the bulk mail lot.
Each spelling here is wrong.
Coldrings for Cool Drinks or did he mean Cold rings?
Minirel water for Mineral Water.
And Cigrett for Cigarette. Cant blame him for the last. It is probably a translation of the Hindi pronunciation of the word.

Omllet

2008-03-16T13:03:00.001+05:30

Not just omelette, but a couple of other items on the menu are misspelt. There is Sandwuch Veg, Cock (coke!), and Nan suffed. While paratha is variously spelt as prantha and pratha. Or are they all different things?
pic courtesy: spam mail.

Hiro

2008-03-15T12:36:00.000+05:30

The real hero. Or Hirohito?

One of a series of pics that have been doing their rounds on the net and came to me on email. Not sure about their authenticity, which is why I have dilly dallied about posting them.

Mansoon varities

2008-03-07T21:29:00.001+05:30

Check out the spellings of 'monsoon' and 'varieties'.
picture courtesy my s-i-l Tulika.

Intertainment

2008-02-22T14:37:00.002+05:30

This was sent by my brother to provide some long-deserved entertainment for this blog's fans.

"Subject: a photo of the LIPA building in Liberia.

Here is one for you from Monrovia, Liberia. We spotted this while stuck in a traffic jam on the way home from the office in the Liberian capital.

Liberia has some legendary names for restaurants and other establishments. If a word doesn't capture it, then they use entire sentences to name places. So there is 'My wife's cooking no good Restaurant (perhaps meant for men who are driven to restaurants cos their wives are poor cooks), 'Downsizing, rightsizing restaurant ( for civil servants who are being retired as part of the donor support downsizing of the government) etc."

Curving

2008-01-07T12:08:00.002+05:30

Carving a niche for itself in the curving business?

The second Auroville has an 'i' missing.

Ladyies

2008-01-06T09:40:00.001+05:30

On the road to Auroville...
Cant be French for ladies' tailor?

ssawls

2008-01-04T00:58:00.001+05:30

Pashmina shawls, not Pass-meena ssawls, on sale at Auroville junction near Pondy. And shouldnt it be Sunrise Arts?

dormatory

2007-12-28T13:06:00.001+05:30

Kumarakom in Kerala is teeming with hotels and houseboats - and dormitories! And who cares about spellings when business is so good?

Arrengement

2007-12-27T14:00:00.001+05:30

If this is the state of spellings on a school blackboard, we have
reasons to worry.

Hyginic

2007-12-12T20:14:00.001+05:30

A shop on Pudupet Harris Road sells Hyginic Halal meat. The word doesn't look hygienic without an 'e' in between. Now that is a word I will be confused too. Like believe and relieve. Why cant the English language be less complicated, I ask?

Flaamboyant

2007-12-05T13:00:00.000+05:30

I happened to notice the not-so-flamboyant board of Flaamboyant Tech Solutions in Mount Road yesterday.
Maybe it is the numerology factor at play here.

Many Tamilians have a fascination for spelling out the English alphabets. Like YesYes (SS?) supermarket. Or GeeGee (GG) Plaza.
Gee! That's a strange fascination.

Mian

2007-12-03T12:51:00.000+05:30

RR pharmacy in Anna Nagar is located on 1st Mian Road.
Mama Mia! Is that a road named after Javed Miandad?

p.s. Actually, I should have let that go. It was probably only a slip of the keys that changed Main to Mian. But I need something to post here, right?
To blog something a day is human too, Sam?

Driyar!

2007-12-01T16:54:00.000+05:30

A men's salon near my place offers the services of a hair driyar, among other things. (Well, the fact is I just couldnt stand there and stare since it is an exclusively-for-men domain. Maybe there were a couple of other misspelt words, which I hope I can enlist here after a furtive glance each day I pass the place.)
A drier or dryer is something that dries; a machine for extracting moisture from cloth, grain etc., says the Chambers Dictionary.

Exculusively

2007-11-29T11:39:00.000+05:30

Exculusively for Ladies, advertises a beauty parlour near the Police Dog Squad premises in Egmore.
Exclusive means catering only to, while exclusively is the adverb.
Adding an unwanted 'u' will not make 'exclusively' any more 'exclusive'.
p.s. I hope I dont sound like William Safire!

stationerys

2007-11-24T13:31:00.000+05:30

There is this shop with a very curious name near the Egmore Baby Hospital -
Southside
Provoke Carry home
Stationerys General provisions

The name doesnt bother me so much as the stuff it sells - stationerys. Stationery itself is plural and doesnt need an 's' in support. It stands for envelopes, notepads, pens, pencils, erasers, paper clips, staples etc.

Another shop nearby sells 'stationary', paste brush, cola and so on. Stationary means constant or non-moving but is often misspelt to refer to stationery.

Anu-s

2007-11-22T17:29:00.000+05:30

A colleague provided this one:
"How about Anu's bakery somewhere in Kerala with the apostrophe missing?"

I have come across a "Rinsy bakery" in my native place. Trust Malayalis to come up with names like Rinsy and Licey for their daughters. Or Bowlee and Googlee for sons born during a World Cup cricket season.
And there was this girl called Bossy combining her parents' names - Bobby and Mercy.

In a soup

2007-11-20T13:02:00.001+05:30

"All soup available", read a board outside a less-than-modest fast-food joint on the Alwarpet route. The names of the soups available were in Tamil, fortunately or unfortunately.
Soups, sir. Unless all is the name of a particular flavour of soup he has invented.

p.s. I am getting more into grammar than misspelt words. But I dont seem to be noticing many misspelt words after I started blogging about it, so whatever comes - be it wrong grammar or spelling - will go here.
And I need to get pictures if my findings have to look authentic!

Coliflower

2007-11-17T12:20:00.000+05:30

Some time back, while on a visit to the Elliots beach in Besant Nagar, we had chilli bajji at the 'Elliots bajji stall' which sold bajjis made from onion, 'pottato', chilli, 'bannana', and 'coliflower' (at the risk of getting infected by E. coli !! I guess).
The fritters are made by dipping wafer-thin slices of onion, potato, big chillies, raw banana, and cauliflower florets in a dough made of bengal gram (called besan in Hindi, kadalamaavu in Kerala and TN) powder, chilli powder, salt and water. For the bold and the immune, there is nothing like fast-food and snacks from such way-side stalls. I particularly love the chilli bajjis.

* This is one of my all-time favorites - not the bajjis, but the spelling mistakes.

Coramandel?

2007-11-15T12:23:00.000+05:30

A tempo carrier whizzed past as I was standing at the bus stop yesterday. It belonged to "Coramandel Transport". Or was it Coramandal? It went a bit too fast for my eye, but I saw the Cora part at least.
We have the Coromandel coast and Coromandel Express (train to Calcutta) but Coramandel? It cant be numerolgy that warranted the change of spelling. Like the way many Indians do these days to improve luck. Like Jayalalithaa - an extra "a" for that extra bit of luck at least in the elections next time for the former TN Chief Minister.

Contacts

2007-11-01T12:47:00.001+05:30

A school advertising about daycare facility has this banner put up:
Playschool and daycare facility from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Contacts: 98444473633 and 27635373 (the nos. are fictional).

But contacts? Instead of Contact such and such no. ?
Contact as a verb means "get in touch with" while contacts is a noun with quite a few meanings. Such as contact lenses, or communication/relationship with someone, or a person who maybe communicated with for assistance like when you say "Balaji has good contacts". The last meaning may almost go in the above instance - if only the names of the persons who could be reached on those numbers were given.

It is not a grave error but it still rankles.

Inglish?

2007-10-30T19:24:00.000+05:30

The English Language, I was told, is the language of Milton, Shakespeare and the Bible. However, the language has undergone innovations and permutations over the centuries as it travelled across the world.
Indian English, an adaptation of the original, often encounters hilarious and shocking play of words and letters. I hope to enlist, occasionally with pictures as proof, this outrageous and callous attempt to abuse the language.