How do you spell ____________ and why?

JaRylan · Apr 14, 2007

I went to type the word tonight and I had a brain fart and looked it up online and then I found myself in a real quandry.

oxeye · Apr 14, 2007

I've always done dilemma. But now I'm curious to see if that's right or not! LOL

broken4u05 · Apr 14, 2007

I don't spell that well. I am sure by now everyone can see that though. lol. Sorry i am no help i rely on spell check

scatterbunny · Apr 14, 2007

I always spell it dilemma.

Okay, just looked it up on dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dilemma

In some languages it is spelled, "dilema" but not in English.

JaRylan · Apr 15, 2007

I typed it in as "dilemna" and then started thinking. So I typed it into a search engine and someone's blog popped up discussing the spelling of the word. Apparently there is a large portion of society (all age groups and locations from around the english speaking world) that spell it using "mna" and are stunned to find that it is not correct. It's one of those things that the more I think about it the more clouded my memories become. I *think* I've always spelled it dilemna, but I can't say for sure. What I wouldn't give to be able to find an old spelling test right now, lol. I've looked at the word for to long tonight and now none of the spellings look right.

murphydog77 · Apr 15, 2007

I took an English class in college that delved into the most interesting aspects of the English language. It covered the very basic building blocks, from diphthongs (don't even ask me what those are right now, lol) to phonics and regional dialects and slang. It moved very quickly, but it was such a cool class and your "dilemna" reminded me of it.

JaRylan · Apr 15, 2007

murphydog77 said:
I took an English class in college that delved into the most interesting aspects of the English language. It covered the very basic building blocks, from diphthongs (don't even ask me what those are right now, lol) to phonics and regional dialects and slang. It moved very quickly, but it was such a cool class and your "dilemna" reminded me of it.

Cool. My first thought was that my dilemna was another case of British versus American spelling. Most people probably think I just can't spell, lol - colour, centre, grey.

aimee123 · Apr 15, 2007

Well, this is embarrassing.... I am the one person that picked "dilema." BUT..let me explain why.

I usually do pretty well with spelling, let me just say that right now.

However, when I looked at the question and the options, I thought, "Well, it's a trick, of course." So, I picked the not-so-obvious answer that could be spelled correctly. And I didn't want to cheat and look up the word.

So, there ya' go. My humiliating moment of the day. :thumbsdown:

wondering1 · Apr 15, 2007

Quiz showing differences in word choice: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

JaRylan · Apr 15, 2007

wondering1 said:
Quiz showing differences in word choice: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

My results show that I am "33% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee." A Yankee born and raised in Saskatchewan that is, lol. The one question that really made me laugh was 14 - "What do you put your groceries in?" I put my groceries in a bag but I have been offered "sex" in Minot ND. I was buying my grad shoes at Payless and the gentleman asked if I wanted "sex". It became much clearer that he wanted to put my shoes in a "sack" when he held it up, lol.

Splash · Apr 15, 2007

Dilemma. Because that's the way it's spelled. There is no "reason" to spell it that way, that's the correct spelling. Dilemna is used by some people for reasons I fail to grasp, but it is not an "alternate" spelling, it's an incorrect spelling.

JaRylan · Apr 15, 2007

Splash said:
Dilemma. Because that's the way it's spelled. There is no "reason" to spell it that way, that's the correct spelling. Dilemna is used by some people for reasons I fail to grasp, but it is not an "alternate" spelling, it's an incorrect spelling.

I honestly can't remember how I spell it or was taught to spell it, lol. No matter how I spelled/misspelled it looked wrong which prompted me to look it up online.

TheRealMacGyver · Apr 15, 2007

For those of you really interested in this sort of stuff, check out this site: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html It has a lot of common errors in English. I'm sure most of us have at least one that we do.

You could always use "pickle" in place of dilemma

jakeosmom · Apr 15, 2007

Just popping out of lurkdom to say that I've heard a lot of people say "dilemna". I also hear a lot of people say "aks" for "ask", "Illinoise" for "Illinois", and "warsh" for "wash". Sure it's wrong but it's probably a regional thing. When I lived in the south, I might coulda started saying y'all pretty easily

.

lovinwaves · Apr 15, 2007

jakeosmom said:
Just popping out of lurkdom to say that I've heard a lot of people say "dilemna". I also hear a lot of people say "aks" for "ask", "Illinoise" for "Illinois", and "warsh" for "wash". Sure it's wrong but it's probably a regional thing. When I lived in the south, I might coulda started saying y'all pretty easily .

Yes, we say here in Missouri... Missourah, Warsh, Antanna, y'all...

skaterbabs · Apr 15, 2007

Splash said:
Dilemma. Because that's the way it's spelled. There is no "reason" to spell it that way, that's the correct spelling. Dilemna is used by some people for reasons I fail to grasp, but it is not an "alternate" spelling, it's an incorrect spelling.

:yeahthat:

jakeosmom said:
Just popping out of lurkdom to say that I've heard a lot of people say "dilemna". I also hear a lot of people say "aks" for "ask", "Illinoise" for "Illinois", and "warsh" for "wash". Sure it's wrong but it's probably a regional thing. When I lived in the south, I might coulda started saying y'all pretty easily .

Yep, "ax" for "ask" is one of my pet peeves.

broken4u05 · Apr 15, 2007

skaterbabscpst said:
Yep, "ax" for "ask" is one of my pet peeves.

I hate it when people say "ax" in songs.. like come on you need to learn the right way to say the word. I dont mind y'all because i say it too. I am a southern at heart. MY grandparents are in VA so they say it and i started to after that

Starlight · Apr 15, 2007

That test was funny. I got 57% dixie/barely dixie, and dh got 33% dixie = you are definitely a yankee.

Dh is a New Yorker (New Yawker, LOL), but I'm not sure where I'm from. LOL

Of course, my New Yawker is feeding my 11 month old sweet tea. Ugh.

I wonder how much the drive through beer thing set us off. We don't frequent those places, but we have them, and know them as party barns. Very convenient. They should do drive through grocery stores. I wish I could run through the Walgreens drive through to pick up a couple of quick things at times.

scatterbunny · Apr 15, 2007

43% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

I'm an Oregonian, born and raised.

But lived with my West Virginia, born and raised Nana until I was 10, and we've always been close. Maybe that's where my Yankee/Dixie comes into play?

skaterbabs · Apr 15, 2007

I got "52% Dixie. Barely in Dixie", but I tend t use standard pronounciations of words, if I plugged in what is typically heard around here the score would be higher.

How do you spell ____________ and why?

How do you spell ___________ and why?

dilema

dilemma

dilemna

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