Definitely/definately/definitly????

[thalberg]

Who else has noticed that this is by far the most popular word on the forum to spell incorrectly?

[chopininov]

what about sassafras...

[counterpoint]

It's def'tly a very silly word. Did Albert Einstein live in vain...? 

[chopininov]

Defanetily 

[pianochick93]

I think that it would definately be the the most misspelled word. I'm still not sure if I'm spelling it right, but I'm too lazy to check.

[pianochick93]

Ok, I just proved myself wrong and checked it in Word. It is Definitely. Danm, I hhave bin speeling it rong al off thees yeers.

[soliloquy]

I see ridiculous/rediculous, misspelled/mispelled, cigarette/cigaret, elicit/ellicit, virtuosic/virtuostic, necessary/necissary, embarrassed/embarassed, moiseiwitsch/(lots of different misspellings), arpeggiated/arpeggionated and Concerti/Concertos a lot on here.  Also preferred/prefered and referred/refered.


But your/you're is probably the most common one I see.  That and people using an apostrophe to denote plurality for some unknown reason.  Like:

All of the pianist's in the video were pretty good!


Also, a lot of people on here don't seem to know when to use "more/most" or "er/est".  I've seen "stupidest" way too many times.  Which is pretty ironic when you think about it.

[counterpoint]

I've seen "stupidest" way too many times.  Which is pretty ironic when you think about it.

But worsest is the most best 

[schubertiad]

Haha I recently won a tenner off a German in a bet to determine the correct spelling of 'definite'.
Though the biggest repeat offender i've seen on the forum has to be 'practise/practice'. I am genuinely shocked when i see it used correctly.

[leahcim]

Who else has noticed that this is by far the most popular word on the forum to spell incorrectly?

Could be, but I'd have thought it was loose / lose.

I just use firefox and it underlines /definately/ and /similary/ so I can change them.

[minor9th]

I frequently see errors with:

it's/its
there/their
your/you're
to/too

After the third grade, these words should not be an issue...

[wotgoplunk]

Haha I recently won a tenner off a German in a bet to determine the correct spelling of 'definite'.
Though the biggest repeat offender i've seen on the forum has to be 'practise/practice'. I am genuinely shocked when i see it used correctly.

That would be because we're told to disregard it in schools.

At least, I was.

Must be a North American thing. 


(But practise is the verb and practice the noun. Not too hard to remember, is it? I hope I'm correct!)

(Also, definite+ly. Is it that tricky?)

[pianowolfi]

My online dictionary lists "to practise" as British English, "to practice" as American English
https://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=practise&relink=on

very confusing.

[chopininov]

My online dictionary lists "to practise" as British English, "to practice" as American English
https://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=on&search=practise&relink=on

very confusing.

I believe that it is the same with favourite and favorite. Also memorise and memorize.

But anyways, so many words I've read have been misspelled that for the past few months I've just ignored it.

[retrouvailles]

Those brits are such rebels. They should practice spelling things correctly.

[gyzzzmo]

lol, some guy sa(i)d 'distincted himself(ve)' instead(instet) of(f) 'distinguished himself'... What an idiot!




(oh, was that really me?)

[richard black]

Definitely, like many awkward words, is easy to spell if you remember that it's derived from finite, which is easy to spell 'cos you say it like you speak it (well, to the limited extent that's ever true in English).

Practise/practice - on this particular occasion the British have it right, the Americans wrong (the reverse is true just as often, arguably). It should be the same as device/devise, which one actually pronounces differently, on both sides of the Atlantic. Somehow America got it swapped and it's stuck. But then, why spell it differently at all? It's not as if there was ever much logic to English spelling.

And to prove that point: how do you pronounce this word:

Ghoti

?

It's a perfectly normal, everyday English word with an alternative spelling devised by GB Shaw.

[chopininov]

I don't believe fish--or "ghoti" can actually be spelled that way. In order to achieve the "sh" sound, I believe there must be a vowel succeeding the 'i'. Although I might be wrong.

[leahcim]

Those brits are such rebels. They should practice spelling things correctly.

T H I N G S

Seems easy enough...

[retrouvailles]

Very good! Now work on 'practise', 'analyse', 'favourite', etc. (correctly, of course).

[soliloquy]

Oooh!  Do "colour" next!


Or how bout "aluminium"?  xD

[richard black]

Or how bout "aluminium"?

Well, that one's actually pronounced differently in the USA and the UK. But while we're on elements, what about sulfur/sulphur? What wise guy decided to transcribe the Greek 'phi' as the 2 letters 'ph' anyway? Why not just 'f'? In which case, of course, you can study fysics or fysiology and so on....

Come to that, why not dephinitely?

The Georgian language, which is my wife's native tongue so I get to see and hear it quite a lot, has its own alfabet and doesn't have any of these problems. You hear a word, you know how to spell it, and vice versa. That's not true of any Roman-alfabet language, though Italian nearly manages it.

[leahcim]

Very good! Now work on 'practise', 'analyse', 'favourite', etc. (correctly, of course).

The clue is in the name. It's called English not Merkin.

Which begs the question why does your president call you his fellow merkins? And do you [and him] realise what he's calling you?

[ahinton]

The clue is in the name. It's called English not Merkin.

Which begs the question why does your president call you his fellow merkins? And do you [and him] realise what he's calling you?

And a good question at that, although, as I have mentioned previously when the expression "Merkin" for "American" has come up on this forum, "Merkin", to me, is a concert hall in New York City as is part of the Abraham Lincoln Centre (sorry, Center)...

Best,

Alistair

[pianochick93]

On the topic of horrible grammar and words that don't exist, I found "commonest" a number of times in a science textbook. Such as "Feldspar is the commonest mineral found in igneous rocks."

I don't remember if that was the exact sentence, or if it is even correct, but that is the general gist of it...

[counterpoint]

On the topic of horrible grammar and words that don't exist, I found "commonest" a number of times in a science textbook. Such as "Feldspar is the commonest mineral found in igneous rocks."

I don't remember if that was the exact sentence, or if it is even correct, but that is the general gist of it...

should that not be "communist"...? 

[pianochick93]

Yes, that's what my friends said.

But communist minerals...

[counterpoint]