I just have to ask the present expertise:
Why is it that the word definitely seems to be the hardest word in the English vocabulary to spell.
Favorite spelling by far appears to be definately, but I have also seen deffienetly, defiantly, deffinitly and even dafiniteley.
Strangely, it seems that non-Anglo Americans do far better on this particular word.
It's starting to get on my nerves!
Rune
Why is it that the word definitely seems to be the hardest word in the English vocabulary to spell.
Favorite spelling by far appears to be definately, but I have also seen deffienetly, defiantly, deffinitly and even dafiniteley.
Strangely, it seems that non-Anglo Americans do far better on this particular word.
It's starting to get on my nerves!
Rune
Rune:
I must say, if that is all that's getting on your nerves, this forum must be doing well indeed.
What can I say? The internet is largely a free fire zone for spelling and grammar. First, it inherited a tradition, left over from when saving characters counted, of shortening "you" to "u", and so forth. The fewer letters, the better.
Second, there is the informal nature of message boards that makes spelling mistakes allowable, where they would not be if we were submitting a letter to the editor.
Third, the close relative of message boards is real-time chat rooms, where mistakes are bound to be made and not corrected, as one person answers another and the conversation moves along rapidly. Also, such chat rooms put a premium on typing quickly, which encourges mistakes all the more. When people get inured to the spelling and grammar mistakes in chat rooms, it gets carried over to message boards and Emails.
The internet offers a huge opportunity for people of similar interests around the world to communicate and share their knowledge and interests. If spelling and grammar take a hit, so be it.
I must say, if that is all that's getting on your nerves, this forum must be doing well indeed.
What can I say? The internet is largely a free fire zone for spelling and grammar. First, it inherited a tradition, left over from when saving characters counted, of shortening "you" to "u", and so forth. The fewer letters, the better.
Second, there is the informal nature of message boards that makes spelling mistakes allowable, where they would not be if we were submitting a letter to the editor.
Third, the close relative of message boards is real-time chat rooms, where mistakes are bound to be made and not corrected, as one person answers another and the conversation moves along rapidly. Also, such chat rooms put a premium on typing quickly, which encourges mistakes all the more. When people get inured to the spelling and grammar mistakes in chat rooms, it gets carried over to message boards and Emails.
The internet offers a huge opportunity for people of similar interests around the world to communicate and share their knowledge and interests. If spelling and grammar take a hit, so be it.
Well, bad spelling in general get on my nerves. Sometimes I believe it's because I work as a C++ programmer. Every spelling error results in at best a compilation error, and at worst in a subtle malfunction. However, I've not noticed the same obsession with my colleagues (to put it mildly), so I guess I'm just somewhat retentive in the spelling area.
But it's not a general lack of spelling capability that I'm curious about right now, it's the almost pervasive misspelling of that particular word: definitely. Evidently I'm not the only one: A blog
Searching with Google gives
To a lesser extent, I worry about toroid, which tends to become either torroid or torrid, the latter which gets me thinking about spam of an - ahem - explicit nature.
But it's not a general lack of spelling capability that I'm curious about right now, it's the almost pervasive misspelling of that particular word: definitely. Evidently I'm not the only one: A blog
Searching with Google gives
- Definately: 2,670,000 hits
- Deffinately: 61,900 hits
- Deffinatelly: 1,150 hits
- Definatly: 414,000 hits
- Definatelly: 8,280
- Deffinatly: 36,000 hits
- Deffinatlly: 531 hits
- Definitely: 24,100,00 hits
To a lesser extent, I worry about toroid, which tends to become either torroid or torrid, the latter which gets me thinking about spam of an - ahem - explicit nature.
Cal Weldon said:
According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, the short vowel is acceptable for both, being the second listed pronunciation.
So it's not a mispronunciation, just a lesser preferred pronunciation.
I must confess, I use the short vowel for status myself, sometimes.
Say Cal, do you say "aunt" rhymes with "plant", or "aunt" rhymes with "want" up there?
guilty...
definitely is a word i often find myself mispelling.
I am also guilty of purposely (sp?) words in ways not official santioned by the dictionary... things like thru instead of through ... words that are left over from older Anglo Saxon days when all the letters were pronouned (i still spell knife knife, and knight knight even thou the ks are now silent)
With little exception the worst spellers of English on this forum are native English speakers...
dave
definitely is a word i often find myself mispelling.
I am also guilty of purposely (sp?) words in ways not official santioned by the dictionary... things like thru instead of through ... words that are left over from older Anglo Saxon days when all the letters were pronouned (i still spell knife knife, and knight knight even thou the ks are now silent)
With little exception the worst spellers of English on this forum are native English speakers...
dave
Yep definitely is a word I used to always spell definately (until I kept getting it corrected by my email spelling check) Once I realised the correct spelling I associated it with finite and then I was ok, though I did start noticing how many other people spelt it incorrectly as well.
I miss having a spell check on the forum, as I often misspell words even though I know the "rules" Most common mistakes I make are using double letters when I shouldn't , not using double letters when I should and using apostrophes when I shouldn't.
Probably gets on peoples nerves, but I don't worry when I see other people making spelling mistakes, because I make so many myself
Tony.
ps. Just for the record I thought I better spell check this post, I had Allways and mispell what did I say about double letters
Once I realised the correct spelling I associated it with finite and then I was ok, though I did start noticing how many other people spelt it incorrectly as well.I miss having a spell check on the forum, as I often misspell words even though I know the "rules" Most common mistakes I make are using double letters when I shouldn't , not using double letters when I should and using apostrophes when I shouldn't.
Probably gets on peoples nerves, but I don't worry when I see other people making spelling mistakes, because I make so many myself
Tony.
ps. Just for the record I thought I better spell check this post, I had Allways and mispell
what did I say about double letters
Yes, if I lived in America and used an American dictionary, that would apply.kelticwizard said:
There are many differences in our languages, there neighbour
I say it ant with no apparent u but people from the old country often say aunt as in want.
Canadians say roof as in goof and I hear a horse hoof said both ways. Jury's out on that one.
I say tomato and potato with a long a
Trying to see if we notice your other little gem Dave?planet10 said:
Cal
Besides spelling errors, there are numerous grammatical ones to show the ignorance of the average North American Internet user. This thread is a good example -- just look at wintermute's post (number eight, first line).
The most offending mistake, from my point of view, is using "then" where "than" should be. These two words are not even close in meaning. It's disgusting that you people don't respect your own language.
The most offending mistake, from my point of view, is using "then" where "than" should be. These two words are not even close in meaning. It's disgusting that you people don't respect your own language.
Prune said:
Well, language in itself doesn't deserve respect. It's the respect for those reading what you write that counts. There are numerous ways to annoy your readers, grammar and spelling being two of those where correctness is most easily achieved.
However, I guess one of the reasons we who don't speak English natively come off as a little better is simply because we know we have to think about what we write. Every word is a conscious effort. I'd be willing to bet my writing in Swedish is worse, spelling and grammar-wise, than my English.
Rune
Different people have different skills. It's not a matter of respect or disrespect, it's a matter of priorities. I try to be precise in my writing (sometimes successfully, sometimes not), but it's not out of a sense of virtue, it's just my little hangup. I've seen some appalling spelling in first draft papers written by Nobelists.
wintermute said:
I assume that this is the line you are talking about prune? I fail to see how you could replace then with than. (Yes I do know the difference; I suspect that you don't properly understand the sentence).
Any other Native English speakers like to comment?
BTW I'm not a North American
And just for the record, many non-native English speakers I have met do have a much better grasp of grammar than the average Australian.
This is probably because they have been formally taught grammar, whereas unless you go to a private school in Australia grammar isn't on the curriculum.
Tony.
PS. and by the way I just copied that post into word and as far as microsoft is concerned there are no gramatical errors present, so I guess we can blame microsoft if it is full of grammatical errors
thanks SY
ahh well I did say earlier that my biggest mistake was using double letters where I shouldn't and not using them where I should. <blushes profusely>
where is that damn spell checker in diyaudio hehehe you should have waited a bit longer SY <imagines SY using his moderator powers once edit time out has passed>
Tony
ahh well I did say earlier that my biggest mistake was using double letters where I shouldn't and not using them where I should. <blushes profusely>
where is that damn spell checker in diyaudio
hehehe you should have waited a bit longer SY <imagines SY using his moderator powers once edit time out has passed>Tony
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