Wikipedia talk:Typo Team#Word count updates

Hi everyone. For several years I have been copy-editing articles using the tools provided here and re-visiting accidently many times over. I recently noticed that when editing a page, the red squiggly line beneath accidently no longer appears. I noticed this for a few weeks now and decided to look it up. It just so happens that actually it is true - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accidently says that it is a proper word "and it is sometimes cited as an error" albeit less common. Eugene-elgato (talk) 14:34, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

:Related: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/go%20to%20hell%20in%20a%20handbasket a description of this language trend]. I recommend fixing the non-standard "accidently", which my browser still proudly underlines in red. M-W is too permissive for my tastes, bordering on promiscuous. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:29, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

:::By the way I had put my idea here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Lists_of_common_misspellings in case you wanted to comment there tooEugene-elgato (talk) 12:19, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

There are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%22try+and%22&sourceid=Mozilla-search&ns0=1 several thousand] instances of "try and" in the mainspace. Most (but not all) of these should be "try to" (e.g., "try to fix it"). Could this be added to one of the standard lists of typos that need attention? WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:31, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

:In Wikipedia:Lists of common misspellings/Grammar and miscellaneous#T, there are already a large number of combinations listed, starting with

:*try and [verb] (try to [verb])

:*try and achieve (try to achieve)

:*try and add (try to add)

:*...

:--Cyfal (talk) 13:36, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

::Excessive false positives for a tool such as AWB with constructs such as "scoring a try and three goals", though some may be happy to add to their personal lists :-) Neils51 (talk) 14:23, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

:::I saw one of those while I was searching. There are also quotations that correctly reproduce the original grammar error. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:20, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

:I've set it up in [https://edwardbetts.com/page_patrol/patrol/try_and here] if anyone wants to work on it with a tool that lets you mark false positives. I'd work on it myself but I think I have a blind spot for this one. Note to self, must try and learn when to use "try and" ϢereSpielChequers 17:38, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

::Is there a way to filter out quotations? WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:26, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

:::Not without a change to the code, and I wouldn't like to ask Edward to do that because I do see typos in quotations, sometimes translation errors and sometimes when I check the source. ϢereSpielChequers 21:30, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

::::Fair enough. Thanks for explaining it. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

There are many occurrences of "cental" which should be "central" 85.48.186.84 (talk) 09:06, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

:Yes, good spot. I've found 65 and am going through them, most are typos of central but some are redirects from typos, some are typos in quotations, some are foreign and cental appears to be a redundant measure of weight plus an organisation called CENTAL. I suspect there are too many false positives for AWB and it may be more appropriate for another tool. ϢereSpielChequers 10:56, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

::I've added it to Wikipedia:Lists of common misspellings/C. --Cyfal (talk) 16:23, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

:::I've put it into [https://edwardbetts.com/page_patrol/patrol/cental page patrol] and set most of the false positives. I think that's a better venue for it as cental has actual meanings. ϢereSpielChequers 23:28, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

I thought this may interest some editors here, see the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors#Project to fix mistakes in vital articles with AI assistance. Phlsph7 (talk) 09:27, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

It seems like "homogenous" originated as an archaic term for "homologous" in biology, but has been frequently used as an alternative spelling of "homogeneous". Some dictionaries list it as a recognised variant, although some list it as a common mistake. There are over 1500 articles containing the word "homogenous", with most of them likely being unrelated to biology. Should each of these alternative spelling occurrences be treated as erroneous and edited to use "homogeneous", or should they be left untouched? Thanks in advance. had0j (talk) 04:51, 18 May 2025 (UTC)