Misspelling rogue as rouge - enlighten me

[Azul]

I've been reading posts on EN World for a fair bit of time now and I'm frankly baffled by the chronic misspelling of the word "rogue" I tend to see here. A significant number of people seem to perpetually (and I'm suspecting purposefully) use this misspelling and I don't know why. :\

As someone who is equally fluent in French and English (and learned French first), my brain instantly interprets "rouge" first as meaning the colour red (and makes me intuitively expect the following words to be in French), second as the English term for reddish cheek makeup and lastly my language centre goes "Aha! The context of the word tells me that it's that annoying misspelling again... that or this character is a Fighter 3/Red 5/Foundation 2/Blush 8". I do realize that that's just my personal quirk (and yes I am a bit of a spelling nazi), but it's my sheer annoyance at reading that misspelling over and over again that's prompting my question.

What's the deal with "rouge"?

Is this simply a typo that happens to plague posters on a collective basis (whereas other misspellings of "rogue" are rare)? Is it some purposefully misspelling like L33T-speak? Is it a conspiracy to flummox grammar nazis, makeup artists and francophones? Is the misspelling tied to some tradition or old EN World war story that I just haven't read about yet? Do a significant number of posters find the word "rogue" harder to spell than "antidisestablishmentarianism" (and for that matter, did I just misspell the latter word) despite it being five letters long and frequently spelled correctly in the PHB/DMG/MM/almost any D&D book really? Is my brain on the verge of detonating like in the movie Scanners? Did I forget to take my medication this morning or is the sheer trauma of not knowing this information beginning to affect my sanity?

Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[Tonguez]

i can't believe I read all of that

but the transposing of *ogue and *ouge is common in English misspelling

its seen in tounge too but rouge is more commonly use ar enworld...

 

[Samuel Leming]

It's just a common and annoying error. No conspiracy.

I can see two possible sources of the error, though.

First, most of us just have to memorize the spelling. American schools no longer teach what the 'u' is there for. At least not the one I went to. The 'u' is there to force a hard 'g' so the 'e' hardens the 'o' instead of softening the 'g'. Without the 'e', you'd also sound the 'u'. Yeah, I know. :rollseyes:

Second, some southern accents here in America use a very wide 'o' and there's a very subtle 'u' sound as they close their mouths for the 'g'.

So here's my hypothesis. Take a person that doesn't know what the 'u' and 'e' are for and is used to hearing a bit of a 'u' sound before the 'g' and you get 'rouge' instead of 'rogue'.

I only replied to this because you use the flumph avatar.

Sam

 

[Pbartender]

No, I think it's a little simpler than that, Sam...

It's entirely common, when typing quickly, to transpose two letters within a word. Your brain goes into typing auto-pilot mode, and one hand briefly gets ahead of the other. It's the same reason why 'teh' is such a common replacement for 'the'.

Or, when your brain goes on auto-pilot, you inadvertantly fall back on certain letter order combinations that are more often used and easier for your fingers to type. In the case of rogue, 'ou' is a much more often used combination in the english language than 'ue'. It's only natural for us to put that 'o' after the 'u', if you aren't paying attention.

The real problem isn't so much that people mis-type or mis-spell the word... Everyone makes mistakes, after all... but that they don't take the (very small amount of) time to quickly proofread their posts for obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. That, and most of us are too lazy to go back and edit a post once a mistake has been noticed.

 

[painandgreed]

Especially since it's supposed to be spelled "thief".

 

[Starglim]

No, I think it's a little simpler than that, Sam...

It's entirely common, when typing quickly, to transpose two letters within a word. Your brain goes into typing auto-pilot mode, and one hand briefly gets ahead of the other. It's the same reason why 'teh' is such a common replacement for 'the'.

I don't think that's right. I've just tried it, and the wrong spelling feels more difficult to type. My impression is that a large minority, or a majority of posters to RPG boards, and some RPG writers, believe that the sexy cheek-makeup spelling is the correct one.

 

[Starglim]

Maybe it's because "rogue" looks as if it should have two syllables. The masses know vaguely that the word should have a "u" in it, and have never heard of rouge much less heard it pronounced (that's "ruuj" for those who may be wondering), so they use the spelling that looks right.

 

[Asmo]

I´m sure it´s a conspiracy, staged by rouges.

Asmo

 

[Samuel Leming]

No, I think it's a little simpler than that, Sam...

It's entirely common, when typing quickly, to transpose two letters within a word. Your brain goes into typing auto-pilot mode, and one hand briefly gets ahead of the other. It's the same reason why 'teh' is such a common replacement for 'the'.

Simpler is better... When it actually explains what's going on. I still blame lack of training in pronunciation. I know it really hampered me when I was younger.

Hey, not looking to start an argument. Please direct any ire you're feeling towards automated spellcheckers.

I don't think that's right. I've just tried it, and the wrong spelling feels more difficult to type. My impression is that a large minority, or a majority of posters to RPG boards, and some RPG writers, believe that the sexy cheek-makeup spelling is the correct one.

Yeah. There are MANY people that believe the 'rouge' spelling is correct.

Maybe it's because "rogue" looks as if it should have two syllables. The masses know vaguely that the word should have a "u" in it, and have never heard of rouge much less heard it pronounced (that's "ruuj" for those who may be wondering), so they use the spelling that looks right.

There are places in Louisiana and Texas where 'rouge' is pronounced more like 'rew'. Go figure.

Now we have a third theory. Anyone want to propose a fourth? After that we'll probably deserve a fifth.

I´m sure it´s a conspiracy, staged by rouges.

Yay! Let's go get that fifth!

I better give up before we're completely off topic.

Sam

 

[Pbartender]

Hey, not looking to start an argument. Please direct any ire you're feeling towards automated spellcheckers.

No arguement, no ire... Just another idea for an explaination.

You may be right... Either of us might be right, depending on who's doing the misspelling.

I know that I'm a pretty good speller. I (usually) only misspell a word if my fingers flub up, and I don't notice the mistake. But I'm not everybody (fortunately for everyone else).