GENWiki

 Here are some spellings and usages that indicate you're

reading Popular English; none that I know of is yet to be found in any dictionary. While many distress me greatly when I see them, I don't expect to change the world! For simplicity, I've omitted commas and quotes in many places.

Spellings:

---

alot compatable accidently incidently

soley accoustic asterik momento

imposter millenium (These two words are very rarely spelled
 correctly; they don't really signify Popular English.)

Forward (The opening commentary about a book)

In Memorium (Personally, I find this insulting...)

Artic  Antartic

ect. (Is this an abbreviation for "ectoplasm"? I doubt it!)

it's (for "its" and vice versa; the situation
        hasn't yet settled down.)

of, to mean "off"

add, as a short form of "advertisement"

were for "we're" (or for where)

where for "were" (not too common, yet)

your (for "you are")

you're (for "your")

"silicon" and "silicone" confused with each other (The
  scientist who coined the term "silicone" was hopelessly
  optimistic about the literacy of the people who were
  likely to use the term!)

visa versa (and variants) for "vice versa"

thats all (and any possessive with an omitted apostrophe)

"Pouring" through papers (seems to be a very corrosive liquid,
  or, perhaps just making filtered coffee...)

Possessives with apostrophes omitted (This is a problem with a
  surname such as "Gettys", because it is likely to be
  confused with "Getty's")

Any ordinary, unabbreviated plural with an apostrophe before
  the final "s" as in "These are the spoon's I told you about."
  This extra apostrophe rarely happens predictably.

Usages:

---

Omitted question marks

Omitted punctuation ("Happy birthday Jack" is how a robot
  would say it in a feelingless monotone; "Happy birthday, Jack!"
  shows human feeling.)

Double quotes for emphasis (Can be amusing, if sexist, when
  referring to a "wife".)

A comma after the subject of a sentence (I'm utterly baffled
  why people do this...)

"Comma splices" (commas where semicolons belong)

A semicolon after the salutation in a letter, as in
   "Dear Jill; "

Semicolons in place of colons

"...add additional..."

ex.  (instead of e.g., which is hopelessly academic from the
  standpoint of just about all students, and probably many English
  teachers)

Plurals that end in "...man", as in "ten fisherman" or
  "six woman"

Singular forms that end in "...men", as in "A women has her
  own right..."

Omitted middle syllables, as in "inconvience", "compability",
  and "nutrious" (Indeed, this matter could be the subject of a
  fairly-extensive commentary in itself.  It's not rare.  I've
  even heard radio announcers do it!)

Omitting the final "s" in plurals, often the names of
  professions, such as "scientists" (Listen carefully!  You'll
  hear this rather often.  It also appears in print.)

(Spoken:)  "nucular", "Febiewary", "Joolery", "Childern", etc.

Mislocated asterisks:  Traditionally, within a body of text,
  an asterisk was at the end of a word (or phrase) that was to be
  commented on by another, often shorter item.  The latter began
  with an asterisk, and was below the last line of text, like a
  footnote.
However, this convention is apparently unknown to many writers
  of English today.  Asterisks appear at either end of the
  referring and the referred items, and the referred item might be
  above or below the referred.  It's sometimes quite distracting
  to figure out which is which!

(Incidentally, I like to keep my closing double quote next to
  the last letter of the quoted word or expression; I understand
  this is a matter originating with traditional typography.  I'm
  following what I believe to be British practice.)

Edited and updated 910603

(I did have a duplication there, "Forward".)