You’d think as a bunch of journalists Team Debrief would have the spelling thing down, wouldn’t you? Well, spoiler: we do not. Words like conscience and decision still make us stumble as much as anyone and don’t even get us started on because - because yes, we still have to sing the ‘big elephants can act under’ rhyme to ourselves every time we have to write it. Here are some other words that we find practically impossible to spell without Googling.
1. Definitely
Freelance writer Jazmin struggles with ‘definitely,’ and always uses too many e’s…even though D.E.F.I.N.I.T.E.L.Y is the most used word in her vocab.
2. Difficulty
Luckily Matilda solved this one with the ‘Mrs D, Mrs I, Mrs F F I’ song. We thank you, Roald Dahl.
3. Mississippi
While we’re on the subject of Matilda, let’s talk about Mississippi. Or rather, let’s not because it’s impossible to spell.
4. Potato
Our editor, Rebecca, can never spell potato without putting an ‘e’ on the end…she’s glad to see that A Level in English wasn’t wasted.
5. Banana
I struggle to spell banana without singing that Gwen Stefani song ‘this shit is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S’ first…guilty.
6. Embarrass
I’m embarrassed that I still can’t spell embarrassed.
7. Malarkey
Natalia, our creative editor, always spells ‘malarkey’ with a c, rather than a k. Hands up in you're guilty of this too.
8. Receive
Features Editor, Vicky stumbles on this one. I before e expect after c, guyssss.
9. Blonde
Errrrrrr blond or blonde, everyone?! WE HAVE NO CLUE.
10. Millennium
Anyone else spell it ‘millenium?’ That sneaky extra n always gets us.
11. Caribbean
You’d think this one would stick in your head because chances are you’ve Googled ‘flights to the Caribbean’ on more than one occasion. But no, we all still spell it ‘Carribean,’ or ‘Caribean.’
12. Arctic
That bloody extra c.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.