Spelling Lioness

[gryffin23]

Is there a reason why the words dependent, independent, independence and definitely are now frequently spelled incorrectly? That is, with an a in place of the final e in the first three (dependant, independant, independance) and an a in place of the final i in the last (definately

Comments

[ammie_warrior]

Some sort of corrective therapy involving a half-brick, fingers and the edge of a desk may be in order. As someone who's paid to care about this sort of thing professionally, the internet irritates the hell out of me 99.9% of the time.

One of the forums I'm on has an interesting approach, though. If you type "definately", it'll correct it in the post as "definitely (with an I, not an A)". It also used to replace "alot" with "a lot (two words, not one)". Because I don't spell either of those incorrectly, I thought for ages that I'd stumbled upon a forum full of SPAG nuts with odd in-jokes and wondered whether I should add (with an I not an A) or (two words, not one) after "definitely" and "a lot" too.

[cath_er_ine]

This also makes me mad! I wish we could do something about too. Perhaps we can form a militant spelling club and go around educating people. Something tells me that they would not listen though :(

[cath_er_ine]

Oh, and I was never taught English properly at school so I gleaned all of this from the simple act of reading. Therefore, anyone who can read has no excuse!

[gryffin23]

Too true. If you can read, you have access to a dictionary.

[cath_er_ine]

Also, when I grew up I spelt 'definitely' the wrong way. I wrote to people a lot when I was at school so when my aunt noticed I had spelt it incorrectly in a letter, she told me, explained the root of the word, after which I never forgot how to spell it. So it is worth correcting people as some will appreciate it!

[the_smut_fairy]

My "favourite" frequently mis-spelled word is (in)competent. Seems fitting somehow, when people put an a in it.