(no subject)

Something that baffles and has kind of bugged me in fic: perfectly spelled words that are nevertheless not quite the word the author was going for. You know, things like "she would caught danger" or "he was unphased."

And I just realised tonight why this bugs and bemuses me in equal measure: the people using these words are using words they've learned from conversation. From actual speaking! This is AMAZING. I really mean that. I don't think I've ever heard a word in conversation that I hadn't already read. (I mean, obviously in the pre-reading days, but I don't remember them.) In fact I always had the reverse problem - I'd say a word and get a lot of laughs from the family (in fact, one of my parents' faaaavourite embarassing childhood memories was when I'd been reading a lot of Adrian Mole, and I asked them "am I mature for my age?" Only I said it MAcha, to rhyme with nature, you know? Which, by the way, makes PERFECT sense, seeing as how mature and nature are ONE letter apart. ONE. COME ON. English sucks.)

Anyway, my point is: I will be less annoyed by this in future, because I mispronounce words ALL the time and it would just be some hideous hypocrisy.