Knowing Our Weaknesses

I'm sure there are many areas of transcription where I could identify weaknesses and areas of improvement, but there is one that I don't even have to think twice about. It's an area that I just can't seem to improve in, and I shamelessly use Tara and Shaina to overcome my own inability.

What is it, you ask?

Well, first, let me tell you what I'm good at. I'm really great at spelling names and new words correctly, even when I'm hearing them for the first time. In some cases, this is even true of foreign names, depending on which culture they come from.

Unfortunately, that skill just highlights this weakness even more. I'm going to just go ahead and blame it on my parents (that's what we do in today's society, right?). After all, they put me in a Montessori school, where I learned to read phonetically.

Just get to the point, Mandi.

Okay, so here's my big weakness. I absolutely cannot spell words which are very non-phonetic. It's not just like I have a little bit of trouble and can Google until I find the correct word. Nope. I can't ever figure them out.

A fairly common IM conversation goes like this:

ME: hi, please don't laugh.
SHAINA/TARA: ?
ME: how do you spell that word...you know, sounds like "coo"
SHAINA/TARA: (without hesitation) coup.
ME: :embarrassed emoticon: oh, yeah. thanks.

And on that note, just to embarrass myself further, here is a list of words I've asked about recently:

coo – coup
uh-rye – awry
walla – voila
rhine (but for an orange...) – rind
kapeesh – capiche/capisce

Anyone want to help me out and share some of the words they've struggled with?