WOTD – April 30th, 2007: Haplography

Posted on | April 30, 2007 | No Comments

haplography (hap-LOG-ruh-fee) noun
Accidental omission of a letter or letter group that should be repeated in writing, for example, “mispell” for “misspell”.
[From Greek haplo- (single) + -graphy (writing).]

Mrs. Crispin, the sixth grade language arts teacher, spent an entire hour on the common mistakes made in everyday spelling. One of the things she discussed was haplography, which she called the ‘mispelling mistake writers make.’ She cackled when she wrote that on the board and most of the class just looked at her like she was just a little mad. When she realized no one got the joke, she went on to clarify that haplography was when people left out a letter or a letter group that should be found repeated in a word. The primary example she gave was Missippi, or Mississippi as the correct way to spell it.

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