USAGE: CHATTER: (was: Re: USAGE: [w]rack)

Roger Mills wrote:

> "Wrack"'s meanings (wreck, destroy, ruin usw.) are close enough to "rack"'s
> for the words to be confused. For instance, I'm sure I've seen "wracked with
> pain".
>  >>
>How curious.  Can't recall seeing these words in written form in a long time,
>though familiar with both ("sea-wrack" etc. in poetry?).  My first impulse
>would have been "wrack my brain....." but then, until 1975, I consistently
>spelled _lizard_ with two z's, a la  _blizzard_ (doctoral committee very
>kindly pointed out the error, necessitating several annoying corrections).
My spelling bugbear was always "busy/business".  Somehow it never
looked right (still doesn't) with just the "u" there (and yes, I know the
historical explanation for this spelling anomaly, but that doesn't help
any).  I was always tempted to spell them "buisy/buisiness".  As for the
adverb form "busily", this generally came out as "buisiley".  Before
learning to spell in high school, my motto was always:  When in doubt,
stick in an extra letter or two.  Consequently, my elementary school
book reports look like they were written by Chaucer.

Matt.