JK ROWLING startled fans today by revealing the only word she struggles to spell – diarrhoea.
The Harry Potter author shared the information with her four million Twitter followers completely out of the blue.
Referring to her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, she tweeted: “A word that neither @RGalbraith or I ever spell right first time: diarrhoea.
“Too stubborn to let spellcheck do it, I have multiple attempts.”
A dedicated fan came to her assistance and told her a handy – if revolting – mnemonic to help her remember.
Rachel Trevilles advised: “I use the method of Doesn’t It Always Run Really Horribly Over Each Ankle.”
Rowling expressed her extreme gratitude to the loyal fan, saying that she had been given “the gift I’ve been waiting for all my life.”
She even said: “@trevilles I think I love you.”
Rowling, having unleashed the stomach-churning twitter discussion, later revealed that she had deleted the paragraph containing he word.
Fans were impressed with her openness.
Jonathan Howard wrote: “I’ve resisted following @jk_rowling up until now. Her recent public struggle with diarrhoea, however, has endeared her greatly to me.”
Lorna Middleton added: “That awkward moment when I’m studying the structure of the Order of the Phoenix and @jk_rowling is tweeting about diarrhoea.”
One user called ‘Wayne’ said: “I wonder if Snape ever created a spell to give enemies diarrhoea.”
Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym which she used for The Cormoran Strike novels, including the bestselling ‘A Casual Vacancy’.
HBO recently confirmed the debut date – the 29 April – for a BBC adaptation of ‘A Casual Vacancy’, much to the delight of fans.
The Harry Potter books have sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, and have been made into films that made £4.7 billion at the box office.
