In the US, intersections and the upcoming yield, stop or traffic light are not only announced by signs to the right of the street but also with big letters painted on streets. You read the word that is closer to you first, followed by the one that is further away. So for example, STOP AHEAD or LIGHTS AHEAD. Not Ahead Stop, but that will not work either: SOTP AHEAD.

ALTERNATIVE SPELLING or TYPO AHEAD would have been appropriate to prepare thin-skinned people. Well, as Metroblogging LA put it, SIHT HAPPENS, right?

Must have been LA county’s final spelling bee contestant · via Metroblogging LA

As much as some enjoy Spelling Bee contests, others are fed up with this infinite inconsitancy · photo by For Ever Soul

You are not alone… Confusion rules over English as a rule in terms of vocabulary, phrasal verbs and so on. We know that. Being an English as a Second Languagespeaker I am more than familiar - compellingly - with the phonetic unreliability as The Guardian describes the messed up pronunciation and spelling relation of English words. If you know how to pronounce a word in - say - Italian, you automatically can construct the word’s spelling for there are clear rules. This rule does apply for many languages, but English does not feature this consistency as a world language. Unfortunately this gives English speakers (both natives and ELS speakers) a really hard time. What do these 100 words have in common? Visible for you and you only, after the jump.