ข้อคิดเห็นใดของเลขาธิการนาโต้ สตอลเทนเบิร์ก จะถูกจดจำบ้าง? เลขาธิการนาโต้ เยนส์ สตอลเทนเบิร์ก จะส่งมอบอำนาจให้กับ มาร์ก รุตเต้ อดีตนายกรัฐมนตรีเนเธอร์แลนด์ ในวันที่ ๑ ตุลาคม สปุตนิกได้เล่าถึงคำพูดที่น่าจดจำบางส่วนของสตอลเทนเบิร์กที่กล่าวระหว่างดำรงตำแหน่งนาโต้: ◻️ ชัยชนะของรัสเซียในความขัดแย้งกับยูเครน "จะไม่เพียงแต่เป็นความพ่ายแพ้ครั้งใหญ่ของชาวยูเครนเท่านั้น, แต่ยังเป็นความพ่ายแพ้และอันตรายสำหรับเราทุกคนด้วย," สตอลเทนเบิร์ก เน้นย้ำในเดือนตุลาคม ๒๐๒๒ คำแถลงดังกล่าวอาจถือเป็นการยอมรับความจริงที่ว่านาโต้กำลังสู้รบในยูเครน, ดมิทรี เปสคอฟ โฆษกเครมลินกล่าวในขณะนั้น ◻️ สตอลเทนเบิร์ก เริ่มต้นปี 2024 ด้วยการกล่าวว่า การสนับสนุนยูเครน "ไม่ใช่การกุศล, แต่เป็นการลงทุนเพื่อความมั่นคงของเราเอง," ◻️ หัวหน้า NATO เรียกร้องให้พันธมิตรปล่อยให้เคียฟใช้อาวุธระยะไกลจากชาติตะวันตกโจมตีลึกเข้าไปในรัสเซีย "ก่อนหน้านี้ เขาได้กำหนดเส้นแบ่งไว้หลายเส้นโดย [ประธานาธิบดี วลาดิมีร์ ปูติน แห่งรัสเซีย] และเขาไม่ได้เพิ่มระดับความรุนแรง," สโตลเทนเบิร์ก กล่าวกับผู้สื่อข่าว ◻️ สโตลเทนเบิร์กปฏิเสธที่จะยอมรับว่ายูเครนได้ประสานงานการโจมตีพื้นที่ชายแดนรัสเซียที่เมืองเคิร์สก์กับตัวแทนจากชาติตะวันตก "ในเรื่องนี้, นาโต้ไม่ได้มีบทบาทใดๆ," สโตลเทนเบิร์ก กล่าวในการให้สัมภาษณ์กับสื่อของเยอรมนี ◻️ สโตลเทนเบิร์กกล่าวหาอย่างโด่งดังว่ารัสเซีย "พยายามแทรกแซงและทำลายความไว้วางใจของสถาบันประชาธิปไตยในประเทศพันธมิตรนาโตหลายแห่งและที่อื่นๆ" ระหว่างการกล่าวสุนทรพจน์ที่ศูนย์การศึกษากลยุทธ์ในนิวซีแลนด์ในปี ๒๐๑๙ 🤣ในความเป็นจริง, สหรัฐฯและนาโตต่างก็อวดอ้างประวัติการทำสงครามที่ไร้เหตุผลและนองเลือด🤣 ◻️ คาบสมุทรไครเมียได้กลับมารวมกับรัสเซียอีกครั้งอันเป็นผลจาก "การแข่งขันของมหาอำนาจ," ที่เพิ่มขึ้น สโตลเทนเบิร์กกล่าว 📌ในทางปฏิบัติ, ไครเมียลงคะแนนเสียงเพื่อกลับเข้าร่วมกับรัสเซียในการลงประชามติในปี ๒๐๑๔ หลังจากการรัฐประหารที่สหรัฐฯยุยงให้โค่นล้มรัฐบาลเคียฟที่ถูกต้องตามกฎหมาย และกลายเป็นตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาสำหรับความขัดแย้งในยูเครน📌 ◻️ สโตลเทนเบิร์กย้ำว่า "ประตูของนาโตเปิดอยู่ ยูเครนจะเข้าร่วม," ระหว่างการกล่าวสุนทรพจน์ที่เบอร์ลินเมื่อวันที่ ๑๙ กันยายน . What remarks will NATO’s outgoing chief Stoltenberg be remembered for? NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is to hand over the reins to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on October 1. Sputnik has recalled some of the memorable remarks Stoltenberg made during his NATO stint: ◻️ Russia’s victory in the Ukraine conflict would be “not only a big defeat for Ukrainians, but it will be a defeat and dangerous for all of us," Stoltenberg stressed in October 2022. The statement could be considered recognition of the fact that NATO is fighting in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time. ◻️ Supporting Ukraine “is not a charity, it is an investment in our own security," Stoltenberg started out 2024 by saying. ◻️ The NATO chief egged on allies to let Kiev use long-range Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia. "There have been many red lines declared by him [Russia’s President Vladimir Putin] before, and he has not escalated," Stoltenberg told reporters. ◻️ Stoltenberg refused to admit that Ukraine had coordinated its attack on the Russian border region of Kursk with its Western proxies. "In this respect, NATO played no role," Stoltenberg said in a German media interview. ◻️ Stoltenberg famously accused Russia of "trying to meddle in and undermining the trust of democratic institutions in several NATO allied countries and also elsewhere” during a speech at the Center for Strategic Studies in New Zealand in 2019. In fact, the US and NATO boast a track record of senseless and bloody wars. ◻️ The Crimean Peninsula was reunited with Russia as a result of increased "great power competition," Stoltenberg said. In effect, Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in a 2014 referendum after a US-instigated coup ousted the legitimate Kiev government and became a catalyst for the Ukraine conflagration. ◻️ Stoltenberg doubled down on the fact that “NATO’s door is open. Ukraine will join,” during a speech in Berlin on September 19. . 1:31 AM · Sep 21, 2024 · 3,210 Views https://x.com/SputnikInt/status/1837197843531968526

New Words We Created Because Of Coronavirus We’re rounding out 2020, and the coronavirus continues to shape our lives and language. While we once hoped we could toss the year’s coronacoinages out the door, that’s clearly not going to be the case right now: the coronavirus continues to surge to new levels. It seems like years (not months) ago that we learned our first COVID-19 terms, like social distancing and flatten the curve. We had to process so much, in so little time; we had to become experts about important differences: epidemic vs. pandemic, quarantine vs. isolation, and respirator vs. ventilators. The conversation continued with contagious vs. infectious and what antibodies do. Many of the words we’ve continued to add to our vocabularies address the ongoing nature of our situation. Maybe we long for the Before Times or have embraced cluttercore as we cope. The ups and downs of this life haven’t been easy (it’s a coronacoaster, to be honest), but the new vocabulary has helped us stay safe and informed during these scary times. And what better way to bring some welcome humor and humility to our lives in the bunker than some wordplay? Here’s our ongoing roundup of some of the new slang terms born of this unique, unprecedented time in modern life—a time of upheaval that some more jokingly call the coronapocalypse (corona apocalypse) or coronageddon (corona armageddon). the Before Times Are you walking around in a constant state of nostalgia? Then the term Before Times is for you. This humorous (and yes, dark) take on life pre-pandemic makes it clear that we’ve lived through an apocalyptic rupture point that separates old and new. The Before Times has long been a trope in science fiction, and linguist Ben Zimmer traces this specific phrase back to 1960s Star Trek, though some variations (beforetime) appear in early texts like the Bible. Example: Remember in the Before Times, when we packed together in movie theaters for a fun time? Seems like a different world now! rona Rona—often in the phrase the rona—is an informal shortening of coronavirus. Coronavirus is popularly shortened to corona, which was apparently further clipped to rona. Rona is often used as a playful or ironic way to refer to COVID-19, especially when commenting on more relatable, humorous challenges of social distancing during the pandemic. It is generally not meant, however, to be flippant about the very serious loss and disruption COVID-19 has wreaked—nor diminish the life-saving service of so many essential workers, from grocery clerks to nurses. It’s a bit of gallows humor. Some people have personified the virus as Miss Rona or Aunt Rona. And la rona (meant as “the rona”) has emerged in some Spanish-language contexts. Other informal shortenings? Just as coronavirus has been shortened to corona and rona, so quarantine has been shortened to quar—and even pandemic to panny. Example: Yeah, I don’t know about you, but homeschooling my kids during the rona ends up in a lot of Frozen 2. cornteen Cornteen is an intentional misspelling of quarantine, often used in ironic commentary on what it’s like to be at home during the coronavirus pandemic. It may have originated as an actual misspelling of quarantine. (Hey, quarantine wasn’t exactly a word most of us used every day until COVID-19.) Cornteen is occasionally used to joke about how quarantine is pronounced in various regional accents. Some people visually pun on cornteen by substituting the corn emoji, 🌽, for the corn- part of the word; others pun on the -teen to mean “teenager.” doomscrolling Life under the rona has meant that it’s even harder to peel our eyes away from our phones and computers, constantly refreshing our feeds for the latest news about the pandemic. At least there’s a word for that: doomscrolling, also doomscrolling. The term has been notably used—and popularized in part by her exhortations to a take a break from doing it—by Quartz reporter Karen K. Ho. Scrolling refers to scrolling down on our smartphones for the latest posts on social media. And doom … well, a lot of the news we’re seeing online feels full of gloom and doom. Example: I was up to 2 a.m. last night doomscrolling about coronavirus news in my state. A related slang term is doomsurfing, or compulsively surfing the internet for upsetting news. coronasomnia Staying up late, again? Waking up at 4am to doomscroll? Can’t remember your last good night of sleep? You’re not the only one. The term coronasomnia refers to—what else?—the insomnia that’s afflicting so many of us during the pandemic. Doctors and pharmacists have seen a measurable increase in the number of people suffering symptoms of insomnia or whose symptoms have worsened since the quarantine began. Some estimates suggest some 20 to 30 percent of the population—including children—may be impacted. One doctor coined the term “FED UP” to describe the worries of this stressful time. It stands for “financial stress, emotional stress, distance from others, unpredictability, and personal and professional concerns.” Yikes. Sounds like that’s another term for the dictionary. coronacoaster If you’re suffering from coronasomnia, you’ll likely understand this next word without much of an explanation. Coronacoaster is one of the many new COVID-inspired coinages that use corona (short for coronavirus) as a kind of combining form. It blends corona and rollercoaster to describe the emotional experience of life during the pandemic. Did you bake cookies and then sob like a baby while masking up for the 10,000th time? You’re on the coaster! Example: The coronacoaster has been exhausting this week. I started crying during my weekly family Zoom and couldn’t stop. coronacut The hilariously bad haircut we give ourselves under lockdown. This was one of the first coronacoinages out there—proving that sometimes we worry most about the little things … or that we’re all pretty vain. It feels like so long ago since we first heard this term, which only goes to show how slang changes as our experience of the pandemic changes. cluttercore A “messy aesthetic,” especially in terms of embracing one’s books, knickknacks, and other stuff at home and sharing it on social media. While coronacut reminds us of our struggles during the earliest days of the pandemic, this term reflects the ongoing evolution of quarantine life. Cluttercore emerged as a maximalist, anti-Kondo approach in early 2020 before any lockdowns, but the pandemic really helped popularize the term. (As of October, videos with the hashtag #cluttercore had more than two million views.) This combining form blends clutter (“a disorderly heap or assemblage”) with -core, which names a kind of aesthetic, social movement, or lifestyle. Cluttercore is similar to terms like cottagecore, normcore, and gorpcore. “The pandemic has forced us to reevaluate what we have, make better use of objects and space … and also see their value, often for the first time,” says Jennifer Howard, author of Clutter: An Untidy History. covidiot A blend of COVID-19 and idiot, covidiot is a slang insult for someone who disregards healthy and safety guidelines about the novel coronavirus. Some signs of covidiocy are: not washing your hands regularly, hanging out in groups of people, standing within six feet of a stranger at the grocery, hoarding items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer all to yourself. Example: Don’t be a covidiot by visiting the beach today! It’s super crowded. quaranteam The (very limited) group of people you see during self-isolation; one of the many slang terms that plays on quarantine. Whether you call it a germ pod, a COVID bubble, or your quaranteam, this is the group of people you voluntarily choose to socialize with or even live with during the quarantine. Basically, your pod chooses to isolate together, promising not to have close contact (within six feet) with anyone outside the pod. This form of contact clustering (yet another term used by epidemiologists to describe the situation) allows you to socialize while also staying safe. Quaranteam is a blend of quarantine and team, and sounds like quarantine—it’s a punning blend, as we’ve seen throughout this slideshow Example: Our quaranteam is going camping next weekend. We’re tired of all the binge-watching and baking. moronavirus Another term for a covidiot. The wordplay, here, centers on the word moron. Example: My roommate is being such a moronavirus. He went down to the beach with a huge group of friends. Calling someone a covidiot or moronavirus is a form of quarantine shaming. That’s slang for publicly criticizing someone for not following health and safety guidelines (quarantine being a shorthand for policies in place requiring people to stay at home except where necessary in many places across the country and world). quarantini How do you take your quarantini? Dirty, dry? Shaken, stirred? Vodka, gin? Quarantini is a slang term for a cocktail people drink at home while under quarantine during—and because of—the coronavirus. The term is a blend of quarantine and martini, a cocktail made with gin or vodka and dry vermouth, usually served with a green olive or a twist of lemon peel. The original quarantini referred to a martini-like cocktail mixed with vitamin C-based dietary supplements—a concoction that predates the novel coronavirus. Quarantini has spread as a more general term for alcoholic beverages consumed at home during the pandemic. Example: Frozen pizza in the oven? Paw Patrol queued up? Think it’s time for a quarantini. coronarita The margarita answer to a quarantini—served with, what else, a Corona-brand beer. A margarita is a cocktail made of tequila, lime or lemon juice, and an orange-flavored liqueur, usually served in a salt-rimmed glass. virtual happy hour When someone might drink a quarantini or coronarita. Because many people are working from home to help, they are letting off steam at the end of a long day of doomscrolling by holding virtual happy hours over Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and other video conferencing or chat applications. Happy hour is a cocktail hour or longer period at a bar, during which drinks are served at reduced prices or with free snacks. It’s also used as a shorthand for drinks, generally with colleagues or friends, at the end of the workday, especially near the end of the work week. walktail When you want to take your quarantini or coronita outside on a walk (not that we’re condoning that), then you’d have a walktail. With so many quarantining at home with nothing to do—and nowhere to drink with the bars closed—some people have taken to swigging while sauntering, according to a New York Times article that identified this new trend. A walktail combines the words walk and cocktail, and bar owners are reporting increased alcohol to-go sales as a result. People are drinking and walking their neighborhoods, walking their pets, or just hosting happy hours in the backyard. Now, readers, do keep in mind: almost everywhere in the US it’s illegal to carry an “open container,” so most people disguise their walktails in discreet containers. Or you can also go bold, like the woman who dressed up in her bridal gown to dance in the street. Zoom-bombing This one’s a more serious entry. When using Zoom or similar services, be wary of Zoom-bombing. This is when uninvited guests to a virtual meeting disrupt it with various obscene, violent, or offensive images or words. Bombing, here, is based on photobombing, or when people ruin a photograph by appearing in the image without the photographer’s knowledge, often in some dramatic or comical way. Zoom mom A demographic of moms who are constantly using Zoom. They used to be called soccer moms, but COVID-19 changed that. Now, these so-called Zoom moms are described as spending a lot of time using Zoom for work, their children’s schooling, or simply to chat with their friends who are also stuck at home. In a May 22 article, Zoom moms were identified as a potentially powerful voting bloc that could influence the 2020 elections. Example: If the updated back to school plans aren’t released soon, the Zoom moms may revolt. Zoom fatigue The exhaustion that sets in while living life over Zoom. Fatigue is a “weariness from bodily or mental exertion,” and people began to cling to the term Zoom fatigue pretty quickly in April. Experts note that this sense of exhaustion is a real phenomenon caused by the amount of information processed face-to-face on Zoom without any non-verbal cues. Conversations and meetings cause conflicting emotions, without allowing people to relax as they would in person. Zoom fatigue ties into the larger phenomenon of “pandemic fatigue”: months into the pandemic and we are feeling the emotional, social, and psychological toll even as we try to grasp the loss of our lives and livelihood. Zoom town A place where housing sales are booming due to buyers who work remotely and are willing to live farther from the office. Example: The realtor convinced us to look at several homes in a nearby Zoom town, and I couldn’t help but imagine an idyllic life in the suburbs—complete with backyard barbecues and a two-car garage. Competition for homes in Zoom towns in suburbs and areas surrounding city centers is heating up as workers embrace remote work and ditch their commutes. Prices in these areas are often lower than in tighter urban markets. Zoom town is a play on Zoom (which of course, can also mean “to move quickly”) and boom town, a noun meaning “a town that has grown very rapidly as a result of sudden prosperity.” quarantine and chill Netflix and chill, but for the coronavirus era. Quarantine and chill is used for various ways people are hunkering down and spending free time at home during the coronavirus, especially with a romantic partner while marathoning streaming services. Be careful when you search for quarantine and chill on social media, though: some people use the phrase when posting revealing selfies. Example: My hubby and I are in an epic tournament of Rummy 500. Winner each night gets to pick the movie. #Quarantineandchill coronials, quaranteens, coronababies When two people get really cozy while quarantine-and-chilling, they may, you know … Babies being conceived while people are cooped up at home during the coronavirus have been dubbed coronababies. And when these babies get older, they will become the quaranteens, a pun on quarantine and teen(ager). The hypothetical new generation of children conceived during COVID-19 has cleverly been crowned the coronials, a play on corona(virus) and millennials. covidivorce The experience for other couples under COVID-19 quarantine may not be so snuggly. Being in extended isolation with loved ones can strain a relationship. Enter covidivorce, or divorces filed as a result of a couple’s experience during COVID-19. zumping The experience of COVID-19 isn’t just taxing on couples who live together. People who are dating are also reconsidering their relationships during the pandemic—and sometimes zumping each other. A blend of dump and Zoom (the popular video service), zumping is when you break up with someone over a video conferencing service. At least they didn’t just text? (Hey, you can do better, anyways). turbo relationship While some people are breaking up over Zoom due to quarantining, sheltering in place means others are turbocharging their relationship. The quarantine required couples to face a tough choice: break up or, er, shack up. According to some therapists, many couples who sped up the traditional courtship to live together during these conditions are reporting positive relationships and strong levels of commitment. Turbo ultimately derives from a Latin word meaning “whirlwind”—and turbo relationships may certainly get people’s minds, and hearts, spinning? COVID-10 For some, quarantining at home during COVID-19 may result in a less movement—and more snacking—than they are used to. COVID-10, also referred to as the COVID-15 or even the COVID-19, is a riff on the numerals of COVID-19 and the freshman 15, an expression for the weight some people (are said to) gain during their first year of college. (Hey, gotta stock up on some supplies to help flatten the curve. And gotta take up delicious hobbies to stay engaged!) See also the German Coronaspeck, weight gained during the coronavirus pandemic, a play on Kummerspeck, or weight gained as a result of emotional eating. coronacation Coronavirus-compelled staycations, due to cancelled classes, shifts, and the like. It’s usually an ironic term—just ask parents working from home while teaching their kids. Example: My teen thinks he’s getting a coronacation since his school has moved online. Oh, wait until he sees how I am going to keep him busy with the Learning At Home resources. drive-by, drive-in So if you can’t take that dream vacation you’d always wanted … how about a drive-by birthday party instead? Social distancing has inspired a lot of creative adaptations for our celebrations—and equally unique terms for them. We’ve been introduced to drive-by graduations, weddings, and birthdays, as well as drive-in concerts and campaign rallies during the lead up to the election. Generally drive-in refers to “a place of business or public facility designed to accommodate patrons who sit in their automobiles.” The adjective is “relating to, or characteristic of such an establishment.” Drive-by is “occurring while driving past a person, object, etc.” Example: The four friends jumped in the car and barely made it to the drive-in concert on time. Copyright 2024, XAKKHRA, All Rights Reserved.

Hard Words To Spell As any participant in a spelling bee can tell you, correctly spelling words in the English language is not always easy. In most languages, the way words are spelled (graphemes) consistently relate to the way they sound (phonemes). But the English language uses a mix of spellings and pronunciations from Latin, Greek, French, German, and many others. To further confuse matters, words in English have different spellings in different countries. No wonder English is practically the only language spelling competitions are held in! If you struggle spelling some of these challenging words, just know you are not alone. They are some of the trickiest words to spell in English. 1. necessary One of the things that makes English hard to spell is that there are letters that can—but don’t always—make the same sounds, such as c and s. This, combined with the use of double consonants that don’t change how the word is pronounced, makes necessary tricky to spell. How do you remember where and how many c or s letters you need? Well, take a look at the word. Do you “c” two s‘s? Ask yourself this to make sure there is first one c and then a double s in necessary. 2. narcissistic Similar to necessary, narcissistic is challenging to spell because of the c and s letters that make the same sound. It can also be hard to remember where to place the double s. It might help you to know that the word narcissistic ultimately comes from the Greek nárkissos, a plant name associated with narcotics. 3. occasion The word occasion also features the letters c and s, but here they are not making the same s sound. Part of what makes spelling this word challenging are the hard c (like a k) sounds, spelled with a double c. This double c comes from the Latin origin of the word, the equivalent of the prefix oc- combined with the verb cāsus, meaning roughly “to have befallen.” Also, you may be tempted to add another s, but there is only one in occasion. 4. accommodate The word accommodate also uses a double c … and throws in a double m for good measure. But what makes spelling this word tricky isn’t the consonants, but rather the vowels. The word accommodate [ uh–kom–uh-deyt ] sounds as if it could be spelled with three o‘s, or maybe there is a u in there? But no, there are no u‘s and the first letter is an a, of all things. 5. vacuum Speaking of words with double c, one word you might expect to have such a spelling but does not is vacuum. Instead of a double c, vacuum features the rare double u (continuum and muumuu are others with this strange combination). The word comes from the Latin vacuus, meaning “empty.” 6. accessory The word accessory breaks the pattern we have seen so far (remember what we said about the rules of English spelling being inconsistent?). Unlike accommodate, where the double c makes a single k sound, in accessory, the first c makes a k sound, and the second c makes an s sound. Throw in a double s, and accessory is a real challenge to spell correctly. 7. broccoli Broccoli also features a double c to make a k sound. Besides this complication, you may be tempted to spell the ending with a y or ee to make the lee sound. However, broccoli is a word that comes from Italian, where the ee sound is represented with the letter i. 8. zucchini Similar to broccoli, zucchini is a word from Italian that uses an i at the end to make an ee sound and has a double c that makes a k sound. If this spelling trips you up too much, you could try the British English word for zucchini instead, which comes from French: courgette [ koor-zhet ]. 9. spaghetti Another word with Italian origins that is a challenge to spell is spaghetti. The letter i at the end of a word in Italian indicates that it is plural. (Technically, a single spaghetti is a spaghetto.) The nearly-silent h might also throw you off when spelling this word. 10. embarrass Another word we aren’t embarrassed to admit can be hard to spell is, well, embarrass. One thing that might trip you up is the ending—it sounds like uhs, but is spelled, well, ass. Another thing that makes spelling embarrass difficult is the double r and double s. What explains both of these tricky elements is that embarrass was adopted into English from the Portuguese embaraçar via the French verb embarrasser. 11. bourbon Speaking of words that come from French throwing us curveballs, another tricky one is bourbon. In English, we use an anglicized pronunciation of this word: [ bur-buhn ], but we have kept the French spelling. The difference between these two is what makes spelling this word hard—just try to remember there are two o‘s, not just one. 12. charcuterie The French have a very different system of spelling, which can make it confusing when we adopt their words into English. One example of this is charcuterie. In French, the letters char are pronounced shahr. That’s why this fancy word for “cooked, processed, or cured cold meats” (like sausage and pâté) is spelled with a ch instead of the sh you might expect. 13. entrepreneur Yet another word whose French spelling makes it a challenge for English speakers is entrepreneur [ ahn-truh-pruh–nur ]. Because it starts with an ah sound, you may think it includes an a, but that’s not the case. Next time you write this word, remind yourself that most of the vowel sounds are e‘s, except for the eu at the very end for the oor sound. 14. liaison The word liaison also has French origins. You may be tempted to spell it phonetically: lee-ay-zon. However, much like the i at the end of Italian words, the i in French can make an ee sound. That might help you remember that liaison has two i‘s. 15. Connecticut Of course, French and Italian are not the only foreign languages whose words have been adopted into English. Many place names in the United States come from the Indigenous languages of those areas, and these spellings can be difficult. One example is Connecticut, which is pronounced [ kuh–net-i-kuht ], but is spelled “Connect I Cut.” The word comes from the Mohegan-Pequot language and means “upon the long river.” 16. Massachusetts Another example of this is Massachusetts, named for the tribe of Algonquin people who lived there, whose name means “at the large hill.” This word is particularly challenging to spell because you may be tempted to double the second s … especially because there is a double t at the end. 17. epitome Words that come originally from Greek are also challenging to spell. One example is epitome [ ih-pit–uh-mee ]. The word sounds like it ends in a y or ee, but it doesn’t. One reason for this is because, similar to Italian, all of the vowels from Greek words are pronounced—no silent e here. 18. asthma Speaking of silent letters, English has a remarkable number of them we use when spelling. There is no way to know these letters ought to be there unless you are familiar with the word. One example of this is asthma, which has a silent th. That’s right, English sometimes will throw in a silent th, just to keep you on your toes. 19. indict Another word with a deceptive silent letter is indict [ in-dahyt ]. You don’t pronounce the letter c in this word, so you may forget to include it when spelling. The c is a holdover from its late Latin origins, indictāre, related to the English verb dictate. 20. gnaw We have seen silent th and silent c, but we would be remiss not to mention the silent g that pops up from time-to-time in English. One example of a word with a silent g is gnaw [ naw ]. 21. phlegm Silent g‘s do not only appear at the beginning of words; they can show up in endings as well. One example of this is phlegm [ flem ]. This word is also tricky because it uses the letters ph to make a ff sound. This way of writing the ff sound can be found in words from Greek, such as phlegm and phone. 22. paradigm Another example of a word from Greek with a silent g is paradigm, from the Greek parádeigma. Based on the way this word is pronounced, you would expect the ending to be spelled dime, not digm. 23. pneumonia Another silent letter you may come across sometimes is a silent p, as in pneumonia [ noo–mohn-yuh ]. Even if you remember that silent p, the word pneumonia is still tricky because of the oo sound, spelled with an eu. 24. island The letter s is also occasionally silent in English. One word you have likely come across that uses a silent s is island. The s was added to the word via isle, a word ultimately derived from Latin and meaning “a small island.” 25. rhythm The word rhythm is particularly challenging to spell. It has two h‘s, but one is silent and the other is used in the diphthong th. It also sounds as if it should have a u [ rith–uhm ], but it doesn’t. Rhythm comes from the Greek rhythmós, a clue that might help you remember its spelling in English. 26. Wednesday The word Wednesday [ wenz-dey ] is particularly challenging to spell because the d is silent. Wednesday comes from the Old English for “Woden’s day”; Woden is what the pagan Anglo-Saxons called the Norse god Odin. Keeping Woden—or Odin—in mind is a good way to remember that pesky d. 27. eight The word eight is a homophone of the past participle of “to eat,” ate. That’s not the only thing confusing about this old word. The ending is spelled ight which we associate with words like bright and tight. Here, however, this combination of letters is pronounced [ eyt ] instead. 28. acquiesce Another word that contains some confusing letter combinations related to how it is pronounced is acquiesce [ ak-wee-es ], a verb meaning “to assent tacitly; agree.” The word comes from the Latin acquiēscere, meaning “to find rest in.” One thing to keep in mind when spelling this word is that ac- is a prefix meaning “toward” or “to.” That means the word breaks down as ac-qui-esce, which may help you spell it correctly. 29. nauseous The word nauseous [ naw-shuhs ] appears to have just way too many vowels. Like the tricky acquiesce, nauseous comes from Latin. Nauseous means you suffer from nausea, a word that looks practically nautical (nau and sea). If you take the a off of nausea and add the common adjectival ending -ous, you have the correct spelling of nauseous. 30. conscious A word with the same ending as nauseous that is also tricky to spell is conscious [ kon-shuhs ]. It may help you to spell it if you remember that it comes from the Latin conscius, meaning “sharing knowledge with,” equivalent to con-(with) + sci- (know) + -us (-ous, indicating an adjective). 31. grateful One of the biggest challenges when it comes to spelling words in English are the number of homophones, or words that sound the same but are spelled differently. That’s why you may be tempted to spell the word grateful with an ea, as in great. However, grateful comes from the obsolete grate, meaning “pleasing,” not the word great, as in “large.” 32. separate The word separate is tricky because the second vowel sound is spelled with an a and not a u or e, even though in many accents it sounds as if it should be. 33. lightning Finally, there are some words in English that seem as if they should have more letters than they do. One example of this is lightning [ lahyt-ning ]. The unusual combination of tn may throw you off here. However, adding an e would make the word lightening, which has another meaning altogether. Copyright 2024, XAKKHRA, All Rights Reserved.

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