Why do theist often drop the letter s when referring to atheists?

[RoadRunner79]

To be fair, atheist is a tricky word to spell if you're not familiar with it. The e and the i can flip around pretty easily. In general though, pointing out someone's grammar/spelling is generally an irrelevant, sometimes dickish move, unless it's genuinely hindering the communication of ideas/points.

I’m horrible at spelling, and I don’t think it’s a big deal to correct if someone is constantly misspelling something. But some make it into a bigger deal than that.

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So similar to saying “gawd”, “jeebus”, and adding “tards” as a suffix to everyone you don’t agree with.  Or does that expand it not its own special category of assholishness?  Just curious?

Also, what you think you hear, seems different than typing it out.

That is probably its own category of assholishness, considering that those things can't be taken as possible typos. We wouldn't need a thread about the mystery of why users of those terms use them, it's obvious.

Are you saying they don't hear the plural 's' in 'atheists' and think it doesn't exist?

That is a possible reason. But I was referring to you other words from preachers. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that in type. It it seems like some preachers style of emphasis in speech.