The 'dilemna' dilemma

Hey, how many of you learned to spell it 'dilemna?' It's actually 'dilemma' and I've been spelling it wrong all my life. I would have sworn it is spelled dilemna, and my wife says the same thing. After some web research, it appears that it was a common misspelling for pretty much a generation (40-50 now) of people. What's up with that?

I suspect Houghton Mifflin is behind this somehow. It is a very common misspelling.

words like that i try avoiding at all costs. I am a horrible speller.

I don't know if I have ever used the word in writing.

snickerd3 said:

words like that i try avoiding at all costs. I am a horrible speller.

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Ditto... although, I always spelled it dilemma.

I guess my real problem is with grammar. I really make my wife grit her teeth sometimes.

I got her all fired up one time, when I used the past tense of climb to describe something I did...

Her response, CLUMB is NOT a word!!!!

Wow .. I use this word quite often .. and didn't realize it was a 'mis-spelling'

I don't have time to ponder this conundrum ... or get pulled into the morass since I just know there is something more to this spelling dilemma.

JR

I've never had that issue. I've always been kind of a spelling and grammar nut. Which is good because a lot of engineers can't write so if you show a prospective employer a halfway well written report at an interview, you get major points.

My boss asked me to QA/QC a memo he wrote, then he got on me because I corrected little things like where punctuation marks go relative to quotation marks.

I don't speak like the Queen's English or anything, but I try to pay attention to detail when working on something a client/reviewer will see.

reminds me of the 3 stooges short where the woman's car is stuck in the mud.

her: "Oh boys, do you think you could help me? I'm in a terrible dilemma?"

Moe: "yeah lady, I don't care much for these foreign cars either."

MA_PE said:

her: "Oh boys, do you think you could help me? I'm in a terrible dilemma?"
Moe: "yeah lady, I don't care much for these foreign cars either."

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That made me LOL .... thanks for laugh!! I really needed it!

JR

I've never seen anyone spell it "dilemna".

I've always been good at spelling and grammar, but purely from reading and "knowing how things should look and sound". I'm at a total loss once people start talking the rules of grammar, though.

I thought it was 'dilemna' too, though I'm not sure if I've used it in writing.

There are tons of hits on Google on this subject. Amazing.

TouchDown said:

Ditto... although, I always spelled it dilemma.
I guess my real problem is with grammar. I really make my wife grit her teeth sometimes.

I got her all fired up one time, when I used the past tense of climb to describe something I did...

Her response, CLUMB is NOT a word!!!!

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I agree with you, Touchdown. CLUMB is defintely a word. I clumb a ladder to the top of the pier cap today I think may be a mid-west thing?

bridgewoman7 said:

I agree with you, Touchdown. CLUMB is defintely a word. I clumb a ladder to the top of the pier cap today I think may be a mid-west thing?

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yep. I'll bet it is (he says smugly with his Boston accent).

j/k shouldn't it be clumbed?

"clumt" is probably more proper.

Clumt is past perfect.

I have been pretty good at spelling since back home (India) it was a big deal in school. We used to lose points for any mis-spelt words so it was always a big deal to get our spellings correct.

Of late one of the misspelt words that bothers me is "Definately", it is NOT the correct spelling. It is spelt "Definitely", pronouncitation wise the misspelt word may seem correct but it is not. The blogs, posts that I read, I come across this very often.

Any such experiences?

Vishal said:

Any such experiences?

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My latest peeve is "lose" versus "loose". I can grit my teeth and try to get over it when I see it misused in a post, but I saw it in an article on a major news networks website.

"The team was trying not to loose three games in a row."

It could be just a typo, an accidental double-bump the "O" key, but it really annoys the heck out of me. In my house growing up there was a constant reverberation of "People lie, object lay" and other such pedantic sayings.

Capt Worley PE said:

Clumt is past perfect.

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ther is nothing perfect about "clumpt"

Whenever I see "loose", I'm reminded of a poster in my driver's ed class. It was made by one of the students, had drawn picture of Mickey Mouse (pretty terrible picture I might add) and said in big letters "Mickey says 'If you booze you loose'".

Vishal I must confess that I have never seen "misspelt" before. We always used "misspelled". An online search says either way is acceptable. You learn something new everyday.

Not a misspelling, but it sets my teeth on edge when I hear li-berry instead of library.

Capt Worley PE said:

Not a misspelling, but it sets my teeth on edge when I hear li-berry instead of library.

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On the same lines... nu-killer instead of nuclear.