DISCLAIMER: This thread is intended to be used as a reference. It is educational in nature to help facilitate good communication between forum members. It is in no way an attempt to make fun of any one individual or suggest that proper spelling and grammar are paramount to forum discussion.
I've started a list of brew terms (and other words, for that matter) that constantly get butchered here. Post further suggestions below, and I'll edit them into this post.
Spelling:
aerate / aeration (not aeriate / aeriation)
a lot (not alot)
barley (not barly or barely)
beer gas (a mix of roughly 75% nitrogen and 25% carbon dioxide, not pure nitrogen)
bottle / bottling / bottled (not bottel / botteling / botteled, not bottleing)
carbonate / carbonation (not carbinate / carbination, not carbomate / carbomation, not carbonization)
commercial (with two m's, not commerical)
definite / definitely (not definate / definately)
fermenter (not fermentor)
hydrometer (hygrometers are used in cigar humidors, not brewing)
India Pale Ale (not Indian Pale Ale)
krausen and kraeusen are both correct (not krauesen, more accurate than "foamy stuff in the fermenter")
kegerator (not technically a word, but that's the accepted spelling)
label (not lable)
nitrogen, abbr. N2 (not nitrigen, not nitrous, not NOS, not nitrous oxide, not NO2, not N2O...at least for brewing)
oxygen, abbr. O2 (not oxigen)
pH (capitalized just as you see here)
probably (not prolly...I know, sometimes that's on purpose...I still hate it)
protein (not protine or protien)
recipe (not recipie)
recommend / recommendation (one c, two m's)
ridiculous (not rediculous)
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (note the capitalization and italics along with the spelling)
sanitation (not sanatation, and not sterilization unless you're in a clean lab environment)
sanitize (not sanatize, and not sterilize unless you're in a very clean lab environment)
Sanke (not Sankey)
silicone (is the sealant and tubing material; silicon is used in microchips)
siphon and syphon are both correct (no e's or f's)
spigot (not spicket)
sulfur and sulphur are both correct (no e's or o's)
trub (pronounced troob, not spelled that way)
Willamette (not Williamette; pronounced wil-LAM-mit, dammit!)
wort (pronounced wert, but not spelled that way)
yeast strain (not yeast strand)
zinc, abbr. Zn (not zink)
A bit of grammar:
are: a verb, as in: "We are homebrewers."
our: plural possessive, as in: "We love our beer."
chute: a channel, as in: "The laundry chute might lead to another dimension."
shoot: a small, immature plant, as in: "My hop shoots are beginning to grow like crazy!"
desert: a hot, dry place
dessert: what you're always tempted to order after a good dinner
its: possessive form of it, indicates ownership
it's: short for "it is"
lose: opposite of win
loose: opposite of tight
their: possessive form of them, indicates ownership
there: a place, anywhere but here
they're: short for "they are"
to: function word used to denote movement, purpose, or possession
too: same as also
two: the number between one and three
whole: not broken, intact
hole: an opening
your: possessive form of you, indicates ownership
you're: short for "you are"
yore: long ago
Miscellaneous tips:
Thread titles are impossible to edit unless you're a moderator. Always read them a few times before pushing the submit button.
If there's a mistake in your signature, you look dumb every time you post something.
txt spk is rly tuf 2 read - plz avoid it
Choosing a poor font style, size, and color can make things unreadable much in the same way lack of punctuation and capitalization can make this somewhat simple idea difficult to comprehend, ya dig?!
I've started a list of brew terms (and other words, for that matter) that constantly get butchered here. Post further suggestions below, and I'll edit them into this post.
Spelling:
aerate / aeration (not aeriate / aeriation)
a lot (not alot)
barley (not barly or barely)
beer gas (a mix of roughly 75% nitrogen and 25% carbon dioxide, not pure nitrogen)
bottle / bottling / bottled (not bottel / botteling / botteled, not bottleing)
carbonate / carbonation (not carbinate / carbination, not carbomate / carbomation, not carbonization)
commercial (with two m's, not commerical)
definite / definitely (not definate / definately)
fermenter (not fermentor)
hydrometer (hygrometers are used in cigar humidors, not brewing)
India Pale Ale (not Indian Pale Ale)
krausen and kraeusen are both correct (not krauesen, more accurate than "foamy stuff in the fermenter")
kegerator (not technically a word, but that's the accepted spelling)
label (not lable)
nitrogen, abbr. N2 (not nitrigen, not nitrous, not NOS, not nitrous oxide, not NO2, not N2O...at least for brewing)
oxygen, abbr. O2 (not oxigen)
pH (capitalized just as you see here)
probably (not prolly...I know, sometimes that's on purpose...I still hate it)
protein (not protine or protien)
recipe (not recipie)
recommend / recommendation (one c, two m's)
ridiculous (not rediculous)
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (note the capitalization and italics along with the spelling)
sanitation (not sanatation, and not sterilization unless you're in a clean lab environment)
sanitize (not sanatize, and not sterilize unless you're in a very clean lab environment)
Sanke (not Sankey)
silicone (is the sealant and tubing material; silicon is used in microchips)
siphon and syphon are both correct (no e's or f's)
spigot (not spicket)
sulfur and sulphur are both correct (no e's or o's)
trub (pronounced troob, not spelled that way)
Willamette (not Williamette; pronounced wil-LAM-mit, dammit!)
wort (pronounced wert, but not spelled that way)
yeast strain (not yeast strand)
zinc, abbr. Zn (not zink)
A bit of grammar:
are: a verb, as in: "We are homebrewers."
our: plural possessive, as in: "We love our beer."
chute: a channel, as in: "The laundry chute might lead to another dimension."
shoot: a small, immature plant, as in: "My hop shoots are beginning to grow like crazy!"
desert: a hot, dry place
dessert: what you're always tempted to order after a good dinner
its: possessive form of it, indicates ownership
it's: short for "it is"
lose: opposite of win
loose: opposite of tight
their: possessive form of them, indicates ownership
there: a place, anywhere but here
they're: short for "they are"
to: function word used to denote movement, purpose, or possession
too: same as also
two: the number between one and three
whole: not broken, intact
hole: an opening
your: possessive form of you, indicates ownership
you're: short for "you are"
yore: long ago
Miscellaneous tips:
Thread titles are impossible to edit unless you're a moderator. Always read them a few times before pushing the submit button.
If there's a mistake in your signature, you look dumb every time you post something.
txt spk is rly tuf 2 read - plz avoid it
Choosing a poor font style, size, and color can make things unreadable much in the same way lack of punctuation and capitalization can make this somewhat simple idea difficult to comprehend, ya dig?!