An extremely important note for all posters

[Mycroft]

For God's sake, people, the word is spelled "definitely". D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. There's no "a" in the word anywhere.


...Christ.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

For God's sake, people, the word is spelled "definitely". D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. There's no "a" in the word anywhere.

Definitely nat.

[Kiddo]

I will definately remember that.

[Ivy]

It helps to remember the etymology of the word. The root is finite which it's hard to fit an A into. De + finite + ly.

[Athenian200]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

For God's sake, people, the word is spelled "definitely". D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. There's no "a" in the word anywhere.


...Christ.

Oh, I definitely agree. But why did you place the period outside of the quotation marks? Unless of course you're British, in which case that's correct.

Who, perchance, misspelled this word recently? And how could someone misspell such a simple word? It boggles the mind. Do people have no respect for the integrity of language? I often wonder if our descendants will even be able to read our language since people seem so content to allow drift. I think it's an awful state of affairs.

[Vortex]

Come on, it's been a lot worse. Have a look at, say, the 1500s, where people would spell things the way they felt like. Before dictionaries and standards.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Ivy

It helps to remember the etymology of the word. The root is finite which it's hard to fit an A into. De + finite + ly.

Latin conjugation = De + finite + la (ha)

What does it mean to de-finite something anyhoo? That sounds like one would be making something LESS specific, not more defined. Sigh.

Originally Posted by Vortex

Come on, it's been a lot worse. Have a look at, say, the 1500s, where people would spell things the way they felt like. Before dictionaries and standards.

Dykshunairees & staynderdqz? (Note: The "q" is always silent when preceding "z.")

[Athenian200]

Originally Posted by Jennifer

Latin conjugation = De + finite + la (ha)

What does it mean to de-finite something anyhoo? That sounds like one would be making something LESS specific, not more defined. Sigh.

finire: to finish.

in: not

in + finire = not finishing, not ending.

de: in this instance, is used as "out of, or derived from." It has other meanings, however.

de + finire = completely finish, or derived from where it ends.

That's just what I think from studying Latin, I'm not sure.

Dykshunairees & staynderdqz? (Note: The "q" is always silent when preceding "z.")

Applause and accolade are awarded, as an above abberation aptly amused all, and also appeared asinine.

[Vortex]

*amused by Jennifer*

I'm just saying that the first dictionary wasn't published before 1604 (120 pages, Robert Cawdray) and the first real dictionary was Johnson's, from 1755 and during the 1700s the aristocracy would spell as they talked, with results such as sartinly (certainly), byled (boiled) and gine (join), if you are to believe McCrum et al - the story of English.

Damn - I hate getting interrupted all the time. Get me away from this hellhole they call work!

[miked277]

the word i see misspelled all too often is "ridiculous", which people seem to think has an "e" near the beginning and not an "i" ... going by how they would pronounce it.