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Commonly Misspelled WoW Words

UPDATE:

Usually my posts get a dozen or so comments. Lo and behold when I logged in today to see over 30 angry comments on this post.

Project Lore represents a variety of players and backgrounds. Sometimes the difference between preaching to guildmates and writing posts vanishes in my mind and I realize I'm not talking to players who are exactly like me. The comments brought up many good points; some players are casual and haven't had time or care to learn all the jargon, while others are non-native English speakers or have speech disorders like dyslexia.

While I stand by the thesis of my post that communicating clearly with proper spelling and grammar will make you stand out in busy channels like Trade or LFG, the counter-response is well taken. Some players PUG people often and would rather get a group going as fast as possible than nitpick. Some players play on less populated servers and don't have the same type of Trade or LFG channels that are flooded with spam.

This is all true and I should have taken these things into account before publishing that post. I'll leave this post up for posterity, but I want everyone to understand that this is a rant stemming from personally dealing with novice players and wasting hours in instances from PUGing inexperienced players and this does not reflect on all of the writers or staff of Project Lore. I myself make spelling and grammar mistakes, and this post and many of my others are full of them. I leave the ones I found as is and highlight them to show that everyone makes mistakes, even when their message is carefully thought out.

I Will Not Spam Trade Chat


Nothing makes you look more like a novice when desperately trying to PUG a heroic group than misspelling some simple words. Many players opt to leave the spam-ridden trade channel because there is little value in seeing statements like "LF Haels and tnak h occulus pst". If one cannot type simple four letter words, then many players will have doubts about that individual's ability to play effectively.

One of the most commonly misspelled words as of late is "dual". Many players talking about "dual wielding" or "dual specs" as "duel wielding" or "duel specs". A duel in WoW is a simple fight to the death between two players. Dual implies that there are two of something, namely weapons in your hands or specs that you switch between (ending a sentence with a preposition).

Another one that died out pretty early in WoW's lifespan but creeps up occasionally is rogue. If anyone is in trade looking for a  "rouge" to open their lockbox, I would sooner ignore them than waste a hearthstone cooldown and my time going from Dalaran to Orgrimmar and back to help someone who doesn't take their time to proofread their sentences.

And while we are on the subject of Orgrimmar, note that there are two R's (three R's n00b!). The city is not "Ogrimmar" nor "Orgimmar". If someone is looking for an enchant in "ogrimmar" I do not know where to meet them, and I don't waste my time trying to speak with such an illiterate individual.

Everyone's least favorite dungeon, Oculus, is one that is difficult to PUG and misspelled more often than not. Note that there is one C. It is not "occulus". Occulus guards the Caverns of Time. Oculus is a dungeon located in Coldarra.

Now I know that everyone makes mistakes and there are some younger players who haven't yet developed their typing skills. However, the road to level 80 is long your first time through and you learn many things while leveling. You should learn common terminology well. People who correct their spelling with an asterisk gain a little bit of respect in my book, even though they further spam up my chatlog so I have to scroll around when looking back at other, more relevant messages. If I am about to spend 1-3 hours in a dungeon with 5 people I don't know, I'm not taking risks on someone who cannot spell simple words correctly. Stay alert!

What are your opinions? Have you found a good guild and left trade/general chat, or do you still revel in that cross-city chat?

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Reader Comments (173)

Thats a little harsh don't ya think

You'd ignore someone just cause they misspell rogue

Ouch

Sure if they wipe the group its one thing but come on

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterNikky

Long time reader, first time poster.

Get over yourself, who cares.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKevin

I believe you're an elitist asshat with no right to have that "up yourself" attitude you seem to be sporting. (Y)

I mean, really, some people are dyslexic, some people are just not up to your "high" level of English.

(I mean, lets be honest, you probably made typos when your wrote up that blog post, and no doubt you used a spell checker just to make sure.)

So some vowels are in the wrong place, grow up, it doesn't make you a better person because you can type "Oculus" rather than "Occulus". In fact, if I came across a player with your attitude, you'd sooner go on my ignore list than the player who is looking for a "rouge" for his lockbox.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSean

well i see where hes coming from...to some people it really bug them to see mispellings and such.....like he said, people make mistakes when typing mor often that noth but think of it this way...would you turn in a paper with a ton of mispelled words? you could and get it marked on left and right but anyway...i have been known to make many mistakes when typing but i usually correct myself...anyway to make a long story short, if people make a mistake it does bug me but i usually wont judge them for it lol

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLittleraven

I agree if I can notice misspelled words then you know it is bad. I am a very bad speller. I use caution when typing and try hard to correct any errors. I know many people who are just to lasy to care about the spelling. It just make then look like idiots. It doesn't take long to look up the spelling of something your unsure of.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRedauroa

Also, doesn't this kind of elitist attitude go against the type of fun, educational atmosphere that the Project Lore crew is trying to foster?

I would rather pug with some people that write in "wingdings" than someone like the author.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKevin

Did I spell my name wrong? No, it means red in French :). lol

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterTherougeelf

There are actually 3 "r"s in Orgrimmar. :P haha

Proof read!

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterkieran

Gotta love the irony in Littleraven's comment.
Just thought I'd pop that in there.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSean

not cool man.not cool

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterhordesucks

"LFG Nexx" is a problem.

"LFG Occulus" is not a problem.

Let's see if you can guess what the difference is.

Get over yourself. You're a better person if you can look past little mistakes. If you understand what the person is trying to communicate, I'm not sure what the problem is.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCGerard

I am not quick at typing and rush when trying to say something before it becomes irrelevant therefore a lot of errors creep into my messages. Most people just laugh at my errors which is fine by me as it is usually in guild chat with friends.

My point is that would you rather be dead or have me say "look out for that rouge." ( and yes i do know how to spell.)

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMadruck

oRgRimmaR has 3 Rs

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSalima

i dont c wat d big deel is i meen it is very easy 2 mispelll rogue and rouge and not helpin them out becuz of it is kiinda stuck upp

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRhoda

I agree pretty much 100% with Heartbourne
Typos in trade and pretty much any other chat bugs me a lot

Although I do agree with the 'Nexx' and 'Occulus'
If its something hardly noticeable that doesn't really change how the word is actually pronounced, I think that's a bit better

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJaktion

I've been playing wow for years now and never had anyone on my ignore list....Heartbourne I think you would be the first. Kinda supprised that projectlore has such a douche writing for them.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGerm508

Firstly, i love how this post is one of those "i love to hate it" things, and i want to throw a blow myself. When you say that you do not want to help someone who says rouge you seem to be saying that it is a waste of time not because they do not deserve it but because you believe that it is a waste of time to help people, not shocking really. I do not wish to insult 'Heartbourn' here, but like any writer, he should be open to criticism when he mounts his high horse. Good day sir! :P

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterchurchill

People that type like:

"EY wazup mi homme wut up wit u/? w/E LOLZ1!11! bi1"

Go on my ignore list. I correct people that spell words like rogue wrong to make the world smarter.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterZerth

I'm actually rather confused by this attitude. I'm generally a decent speller, though not top marks by any means, and I'll manage to misspell 'Occulus' 9 times out of 10. If I occasionally spell rogue 'rouge' I don't feel that I am ripping the fabric of space-time or offending the fashion police or singlehandedly causing a server crash or, really, even wasting your time. I simply didn't spell it correctly.

I understand this is a rant and that rants are allowed to push the bounds of rationality, but it just makes you seem nitpicky. Being able to parse rapidly scrolling streams of text-data is part and parcel to the MMO experience.

Correct them if it matters. Don't waste your time if it doesn't. Really, though, now that it's out of your system, my advice is to get over it. It's really not worth it to worry about.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAlii

it's kinda funny that you judge people so harshly for not caring about typing and grammar and other things of equally little importance.

as long as you have the intelligence to understand what someone is trying to say then it really shouldn't matter. ironic but i'd group with someone who misspelled or misused a word before i'd want to hang out with someone who feels too intelligent to simply use that intellect to better understand people.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBlightear

really, you add somebody on your ignore just because they misspell a word? what a dick...
the "LF haels" thing may just be a typo for typing too fast, i do it all the time, and i really don't think you should deny somebody your services or time just because they are trying to quickly find somebody for enchants or a group for heroics. you are a stuck up asshole and I will never read threads from you again because you are "a waste of my time" good day

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKyle

Long time reader... I must say... you sir are an elitist ass hat and I will no longer be reading your blogs... get over yourself and off project lore!

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLindyen

You sir, are an elitist asshat... I will be avoiding your posts from now on.... get over yourself and off projectlore!!!!!!

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLindyen

sorry double post... going to rape my children for that heart?

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLindyen

I'm a middle school English teacher. Nothing bugs me more than bad grammar and spelling.

That being said, if I can get the gist of what the person is communicating, I don't care. Some of the best players I've raided with can't type for squat.

Also, WoW introduces tons of jargon and a lexicon of names and places none of us have ever used before, so mistakes are more understandable

Probably could've kept this one to yourself.

April 21, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAndra

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