‘Mozy’ or ‘Mosey’? Spelling in the Digital Age

UPDATE: I noticed that I misspelled “digital” in the post title (now corrected). It’s bound to happen in a post on spelling. Ha!

Are you a good speller?

I consider myself to be a  pretty good speller. But some words always trip me up. Like “phenomenon.”

The art of spelling isn’t what it used to be. Especially with ubiquitous spellcheck (is it spellcheck or spell check?) features built in to software and applications. And, of course, there’s Google. I Google words and phrases constantly. Sometimes I add “New York Times” to the search. If it’s in The New York Times, then I’m confident about usage.

This weekend I was sitting on the sofa watching football when my wife asked me how to spell “mosey,” as in “to walk or move in a leisurely manner.”

I had to think about it. While I was considering the possibilities, she said, “I think it’s spelled m-o-z-y.”

“No,” I said, “that’s the name of the company [that does online backup].”

I came up with the correct spelling, but I suggested that she Google it. Funny how easy it can be to spell a brand name. Those relentless marketing messages have a way of searing brands into our memories.