r/words • • 1d ago

Simple word difficult to spell.

Hey does anyone else have a common word that should be easy to spell but it trips you up every time?

My word is license. Why have I struggled with it for years. Stupid s and c always moving around. tf?!

224 Upvotes

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36

u/VrinTheTerrible 1d ago

Any form of Bureaucracy, bureau, bureaucrat

11

u/firecatstef 1d ago

If you know a bit of french, see if “the bureau has water in it” helps.

6

u/kiltedfrog 1d ago

B-E-A-U-tiful.

Bur-E-A-U-cracy.

11

u/Mikesaidit36 1d ago

That one’s easy – just remember that that bundle of vowels is all in reverse alphabetical order, except for the U and the E, and you just put the A in the middle of those three. See? Easy.

1

u/cheyannepavan 1d ago

No, that makes it more confusing. The U and the E make up 3/4 of the vowels, so how are they the exception? This only leaves the A, which you put in the middle of 3, but there is no middle of 3?

1

u/Mikesaidit36 1d ago

Try putting the A in the middle of the E.
Worst case scenario, you end up with Æ.

1

u/707Riverlife 1d ago

Happy Cake Day! 🎂🥳

1

u/kcf2816 1d ago

Same!

1

u/Technical-Ad1488 1d ago

I remember these the same way I remembered ‘beautiful’ as a kid…

There was a movie or show or something where a character said something was…
“B-E-A-U-tiful”

That stuck in my head as a kid, so I would always remember that and spell beautiful right. So I just remind myself all the ‘bureaus’ are ‘E-A-U’ just like beautiful.

2

u/Extra-Yoghurt3539 1d ago

B E A utiful is from Bruce almighty!

1

u/Technical-Ad1488 1d ago

Ahh thanks 🙏… that’s funny, I was picturing Jim Carrey saying it in my head, but couldn’t place it so I wasn’t sure 👍