Receipt

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Receipt → Re-seet#

The crime: A silent “P” sitting in the middle of the word doing absolutely nothing.

The fix: Re-seet

Original	Phonetic fix	What you actually say
Receipt	Re-seet	“reh-SEET”

Why it’s a disaster: The “P” is borrowed from the Latin recepta — kept for historical prestige, never for your benefit. Every cashier in the world says “ree-SEET.” Not one of them says the P. It’s a silent squatter.

Colonel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Colonel → Ker-nel#

The crime: Spelled like “col-o-nel.” Pronounced like “kernel.” These are not the same word.

The fix: Ker-nel

Original	Phonetic fix	What you actually say
Colonel	Ker-nel	“KER-nel”

Why it’s a disaster: English borrowed this from French coronel, which itself was borrowed from Italian colonnello. Then somewhere along the way the French started pronouncing it “kernel” — and English kept the Italian spelling but adopted the French pronunciation. The result is a word that requires a footnote just to read aloud.

The Dictionary on The Dictionary of Sanity

Receipt

Receipt → Re-seet#

Colonel

Colonel → Ker-nel#