Today's spelling lesson is brought to you by the letter "O."

O. That poor, overlooked letter. The letter that gets ignorantly omitted when so many people attempt to spell the word "honey." Yes, that sweet and simple word "honey." H-O-N-E-Y. How might such an easy word be misspelled, you ask? I haven't the slightest idea, but I can tell you that thanks to the wonders of Facebook status updates, at least once a day, I see the word "hunny" in its place. As in, "(Person) is so excited to be spending the evening with my hunny!" --or-- "Hi hunny! Have a great day. I love you!" Come on, everybody. We do not reside in the Hundred Acre Wood and we are not trying to help Pooh find his Hunny. On a similar note, many of us use "hon" (short for "honey") as a term of endearment. But so many times I see "hun" in its place. "Thanks, hun!" --or-- "Love you hun!" Honestly, it makes me a very angry person. "Hun?" Really? People, this is not the Roman Empire. Attila the Hun (correctly spelled) no longer lives. The correct spelling is "hon." Take note.

I am not sure if I've mentioned this on my blog before, but English was my favorite subject all the way through school (yes, I know I am a nerd). Once I got to high school, I took up residence in the Newspaper classroom and didn't leave for the entire four years. My senior year, I was Editor-in-Chief of the school paper (I know, I know, go me). Point is, spelling, grammar and punctuation are important to me. Incorrect spelling, grammar and punctuation is my second biggest pet peeve.

(My biggest pet peeve is people who chew like cows and talk with their mouths full of food. Don't do it in my presence. It makes my hair stand on end, and I probably will call you out on it. Why, I reprimanded my own mother this very evening. Yes, I am that much of a snob.)

I think that one of the reasons I hold a personal zero-tolerance policy for spelling mistakes is that so many computer software programs include tools for checking your spelling. Some programs even check punctuation and grammar. And since so many of us spend so much time on the computer, I feel that leaves no excuse -- zero-tolerance if you will -- for spelling errors.

Which is why these simple errors make me so mad:

Incorrect usage of "your" and "you're" -- I think this is the most common error I see; even more so than the incorrect spelling of "honey." It is sooooooo (yes, I intentionally misspelled that for emphasis) IRRITATING to me!
Violation: "Hey (person)! Let me know what time your gonna come over today!"
Lesson: The word "your" refers to something that you possess, as in, YOUR sweater, YOUR shoe, or YOUR dog. The word "you're" is saying that you are something, or that you are going to do something, as in, YOU'RE adorable or YOU'RE going to wash the car.

Incorrect usage of "their," "there" and "they're" -- Probably the second most common error. Equally as irritating as all others.
Violation: "Hope to see you their!" --or-- "My kids need to clean there rooms!"
Lesson: The word "their" refers to something that a person possesses, as in, THEIR car, THEIR house, or THEIR kid. The word "there" is referring to a place, as in, over THERE, we'll be THERE, or don't even go THERE. The word "they're" is saying that a group of people is something, or that they are going to do something, as in, THEY'RE so annoying or THEY'RE coming over now.

Incorrect usage of "to," "too" and "two" -- Not as common as you might think, but still common enough to land on my list.
Violation: "I want to go there to!"
Lesson: "To" refers to a person to which you are addressing something or something that you want/need to do, as in, the nurse says you need TO ask the doctor about that or I am going TO the grocery store. "Too" refers to something that you are emphasizing or something that is in addition to something else, such as, that is TOO cute or I need to go to the grocery store TOO. And "two," of course, is a number, which you use when saying that you have TWO dogs or your child is going through the terrible TWOS.

Incorrect usage of "then" and "than" -- An error that my ex-boss made on almost a daily basis. He was aware he had a problem with mixing the words up, and he felt bad about it, but that didn't really encourage him to LEARN the differences and USE them, he just would holler out to me when he had a question because I had no choice but to answer it. He had a dry-erase board on the wall in front of him and I went so far as to write correct examples of their usage on the board in hopes that it would save him from bugging me for the answer to his questions (It didn't. Oh well. I tried).
Violation: "I would rather eat peas then corn."
Lesson: The word "then" refers to a time frame or an event in time, such as, see you THEN or that didn't happen THEN. The word "than" refers to a preference, such as, I'd rather eat peas THAN corn.

And finally, one more lesson for good measure. This is one I learned in seventh grade and it still serves me well almost 15 years later.

"I before E, except after C, or when sounded like A, as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh.'"

So, having said that:
Incorrect: Acheive
Correct: Achieve

Incorrect: Recieve
Correct: Receive

That concludes today's spelling lesson. Go forth and spell with confidence! And PLEASE use Spell Check!