Someone in the family just asked me, “How do you spell erroneous?” I answered,
“e-r-r-o-n-e-o-u-s.”
Then I wondered, was that, or was that not, erroneous? Maybe I should have answered something like “e-r-r-o-n-e-q-u-s.”
That would certainly have been erroneous – which is what they were asking for, wasn’t it?
If they wanted that, they would have asked “How do you spell erroneously?”
Right?
Perhaps they were actually writing of the Bishop of Lyons and your spelling was indeed erroneous … or your perception was. Or the problem could have been one of enunciation.