Instal A Spell Checker? What a Dilemna! Or is that just Pure Mulct?
Here I am, well into my 30s, brain the size of a planet and all, and I’m still coming across new words every day.
Well, some are really new words, and others are just popularized misspellings. But they get my language dander up all the same…
(Comments and Trackback are now disabled for this entry. Thanks to all for their interest!)
Recently I came across the word mulct. Now, the first time I saw it, I assumed it was a typo, but after three or four uses of this within the bounds of Thomas Frank’s What’s The Matter With Kansas? I scrambled for the dictionary, something that doesn’t happen too often these days. It’s a good word, Mr. Frank, but hey — while you’re busy pointing out how easily swindled modern Kansans are, you don’t have to make the rest of us feel dumb at the same time!
Then, in the midst of U of T prof Joseph Heath’s otherwise excellent The Efficient Society — review forthcoming — I came across multiple uses of instal - with one L - as the infinitive form of what I always thought was install.
Now, I could have been wrong all these years: maybe “install” was a mistaken back-formation from installation, and the old double-consonant-upon-a-suffix rule would apply. But from what I can see, it’s just a rather old British spelling, one that seems to be falling out of use. Nowadays the single-L version is to be found more often in Polish than English; so why did a Canadian publisher decide to use this archaic form rather than the one we all know and love?
Today’s final spelling dilemma is, of course, the word dilemma. A simple compound of Greek origin, meaning literally two (di) and arguments (lemma).. Quite literally, it means to be caught between the two horns of an argument, unable to decide on one or the other.
Needless to say, my spelley-sense started tingling like crazy while reading the latest fine and thought-provoking post by Michael Bierut at Designobserver.com — in which it was spelled dilemna multiple times, albeit in a quote from someone else.
A quick tour of the Googlescape reveals that for some reason, nearly an entire generation of American adults in some parts of the country was taught to spell “dilemma” as “dilemna,” but no dictionary on the planet, going back however many years, has this on record. Was it a misprinted teachers’ manual? Badly transcribed handwriting? A back-formation from a similar ending with silent Ns, like “solemn?”
The mind boggles. Or should I say, “myzplexq.”
UPDATED: To correct my misspelling of Michael’s name. Let it be said that I merely chose that as an example, and I in no way meant to impugn the character of his writing — only the writing of his characters :)
UPDATED DEC 11 2006: Hey folks, I’m closing comments on this one due to a tide of comment spam that I’m simply tired of pruning. Please do keep reading and feel free to link to this post on your own blogs, forums etc! Cheers and thanks for an elucidating discussion. - aj
February 5, 2005 11:33 PM
Comments
I think it’s one of those 1,001 English exceptions that you just have to learn. Loose isn’t like choose, and lose isn’t like chose… I can understand how a non-native speaker could confuse the two (don’t get me started on the Quebecois problems with the soft th sound), but then again why presume a conspiracy when simple illiteracy will do ? :)
wrote aj on February 7, 2005 1:15 PM
Hello, spelling fans. I fixed “dilemna” over at Design Observer. Mortifying. I’ve been spelling it that way for almost 40 years. Like the guy says in Spellbound when his kid brother is eliminated, “I still think he spelled it right!”
Not that it matters, but you transposed the “i” and the “e” in my last name. Rude justice, I suppose.
wrote Michael Bierut on February 8, 2005 8:15 PM
I love the spelling dilemna, and I was also taught to spell it that way (I’m 38). I found your blog after my boss came to me with a document someone had sent her with the word in question spelled “dilema”… and we discussed how it is supposed to be spelled.
Nice blog. Fun read. Thanks.
wrote christine on March 22, 2005 11:16 AM
Ha! My daughter found dilemma spelled dilemna in a book today! Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober, published by Simon Pulse.
I am 43 and I have been confused about this word for years (until I recently learned the word “lemma” in studying with our spellbound daughter and finally understood dilemma’s etymology). My guess is that we all used some spelling textbook that contained a misprint. ?
wrote Colleen on March 22, 2005 5:54 PM
Christine, Colleen, Michael, thanks for your comments. Fascinating to see where these things come from, isn’t it?
I wonder if it wasn’t a generational thing, and also a regional thing. I know Michael’s from Ohio — where are you two from?
Maybe it was spelled with an N in the past, and it was standardized differently later on…Having grown up in Canada in the 1970s, I’ve never seen dilemma spelled any other way — where’s Robert MacNeil when you need him?
wrote aj on March 23, 2005 1:47 AM
Neither regional nor generational, I think. I’m 65 and live in the UK. Both my daughter, now living in Canada and educated in England, and I myself - grew up to spell it dilemna.
We were both horrified to find we’d apparently been spelling it wrong all our lives. I’d have bet really serious money on my spelling
I’m now trawling old dictionaries to see if I can find any self-justification
wrote annie on April 13, 2005 5:48 PM
I grew up in Los Angeles, started kindergarten in 1962. I, too, was taught to spell it dilemna. My understanding was that the spelling was later changed. It’s hard to believe that we all were merely being taught to spell a word incorrectly. It had to have been in textbooks all over the country.
wrote Kathy on July 7, 2005 10:44 AM
Kathy and Annie, thanks for your comments…yeah, I guess it must have been “official” or at least an official alternate spelling. But I’ve got lots of old books from the 1930s, etc and I’ve never seen it…it seems to pin down to a couple of decades in the 20th century.
wrote aj on July 7, 2005 10:53 AM
this dilemna dilemma is not a “mistake”. This is an ongoing issue with my boyfriend and I. He says I’m illiterate. He’s 47, I’m 40. I was taught in school a common misconception is dilemna is spelled dilemma. Thought it was illiterates spelling it the way it is now spelled. Have interviewed everyone I meet on how they spell it, was delighted when my boyfriend’s highly educated mayor mother informed me she spells it with an mna as well, was taught it in school. Have scoured old dictionaries for it. Somewhere there’s an origin, and when I find it I’ll let you know, because i’m sadly obsessed.
wrote michelle on July 7, 2005 10:41 PM
Michelle, where are you from, by the way? I’m in Canada and have never seen it spelled any other way; one person (above) says they learned it in the UK, but most posters are USAns, I think…and it definitely seems to be endemic to anyone who went to school pre-1970.
Here’s an entire forum from a UK writers’ group on the subject, and they’re no closer to a solution than we are.
http://www.oneofus.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=195
I’m starting to think that at this point, half of us come from an alternate reality where the only difference is the spelling of this word. Where’s Mulder and Scully when you need them?
wrote aj on July 7, 2005 11:02 PM
I have found my people!
I just discovered this posting/thread through a Google search on “dilemna dilemma”, incredulous after losing a bet with my partner.
For what it’s worth, she and I are both 38 and didn’t start school until 1972; she learned to spell it with an MM in Iowa, and I learned to spell it with an MN (I swear!) in Massachusetts. After reading post after post (here and at “oneofus” and elsewhere) from fellow corrected and shocked MN-ers, I AM feeling that I either spent my childhood in Bizarro Massachusetts, or was part of a covert (apparently international) experiment.
Seriously, though —- I know that I learned the MN spelling at some point in school, because I have always used the mnemonic (please don’t tell me I’ve been spelling THAT incorrectly, too) trick of pronouncing it silently as “dil-em-na” whenever I write it, so that I am (was) sure to remember the important silent-N.
Damm!
wrote Lauren on July 23, 2005 6:01 PM
I went to public school in northern California from from the early 80’s till I graduated high school in 1994. I always spelled it dilemna. There is no way I created that spelling, it must have been taught to me. I too discovered the correct spelling is “dilemma” after losing a bet…looking in two dictionaries, and…still in disbelief…running a google search such as others have posted. I simply cannot believe I was spelling it wrong so many years!!!
wrote Ryan on August 8, 2005 4:52 PM
Here I am, doing a crossword puzzle that won’t complete without me “mispelling” dilemna. I can’t get to my dictionaries right now because of young ones sleeping but I did Google it and found all of your comments. I am 61 and Ontario schooled. I also never had any doubts about the spelling of this word until this crossword. I then decided to check it on the web. I too am certain that I was taught the mna spelling. Thanks for the enlightenment.
wrote dls on August 20, 2005 1:30 AM
I find this fascinating! I was educated in New Jersey and lived here all my life. I’m now 43 and have always spelled it “dilemna”. A friend asked me how to spell it and I told her and she was wondering why it had an “n” which made me doubt myself. So, I looked it up and it was “dilemma” in my dictionary. I’m totally shocked! I’m sure I did not create that spelling in my own mind. Why would I add an n? That’s something that would have to have been impressed upon someone early in their spelling education!
I hope someone figures this mystery out! Very intriguing and I enjoy reading everyone’s stories! Great site!
wrote trish on January 10, 2006 3:31 PM
The “mna” spelling of dilemma is definitely not isolated to people educated in the 1970’s or earlier. I graduated from high school in British Columbia in 2002, and I know that I was taught to spell it dilemna. I even pronounce it “di-lem-NA” in my head so that I spell it correctly, or incorrectly as I have now discovered.
wrote meg on February 11, 2006 11:36 AM
As you can see from my URL, this is not a new idea for me. I first noticed the missing dilemna in 86-87. Shortly after noticing dilemma being used in a newspaper and finding no reference to the dilemna spelling, there was a question in the Boston Globe from a reader asking to settle an argument on the spelling. The Globe said there was no reference to the dilemna spelling. Since this time I have brought the subject up with a number of people from different locations throughout the US and UK. People either have very certain memories of being taught to spell it with the mn combination because it was used as a mnemonic, OR no strong feeling on the subject.
After much thought on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that a massive shift in the underlying fabric of reality occurred in the early 80’s and some, but not all, people here now (myself included) are from an alternate reality and have somehow ended up in someone else’s reality. Presumably back in the reality where all the dictionaries say dilemma is spelled DILEMNA, there are people who are adamant about having been taught that it was spelled with 2 M’s!
wrote G Former on March 14, 2006 8:50 AM
And that shift in reality was:
A - The Apple IIe.
B - The Reagan / Thatcher administrations.
C - The launch of MTV.
D - your suggestions?
wrote AJ Kandy on March 16, 2006 10:40 AM
I am amazed. Like “lauren” above, I used to silently say the “em-na” part in my head, just to remember how to spell this word.
For reference, I graduated from a Texas high school in 1986 and was vehemently proud that I knew how to spell this word correctly, though very few others did.
I moved to Arkansas in 1992 - and I have a friend who graduated from an Arkansas school 10 years prior to me, and she was under the SAME IMPRESSION!!
We must find this spelling book! There is an evil plot afoot!
wrote Tiggerlane on April 13, 2006 9:37 PM
Reality shift probably occurred during one of two events (or both) The assassination of John Lennon and the failed assassination of Ronald Reagan. As this Double-M world seems to be wallowing in a big pile of dung, I would like to think that back in our home MN world things are probably better since in that one Reagan was the one who died.
The person who went to school later and was taught the MN spelling should be glad to have had a teacher from an alternate reality.
wrote G Former on April 17, 2006 6:20 PM
Well, I went to a small school in North Georgia where “dilemna” was the way the word was taught. My wife, 13 years younger than I, spells it “dilemma”. I feel totally confused, and I am now quite certain that this is a right-wing conspiracy to simplify spelling!!!!
wrote McP on April 23, 2006 11:55 AM
I grew up in Buffalo, NY and went to Catholic schools for grades 1 through 8, graduated high school in 1976 and remember being taught that the word was spelled “dilemna”. My children laugh at me when I spell it and until today, I haven’t been able to find proof that this is how it was taught….I thought I was losing my mind.
wrote dgw54321 on May 17, 2006 5:17 PM
I was educated in public schools in the 80s in Texas, and I have always known that dilemna is spelled with “MN” rather than “mm.” I first came across this bizarre new spelling a couple of years ago and was shocked at how low our spelling and grammar skills had gotten. Now, it appears that I was wrong after all, and dilemma really is spelled with “MM.” My gosh, I may never use the word in writing again!
wrote Cristina on May 18, 2006 5:46 PM
I am a 12 year old girl from England, and I have always been taught to spell it as ‘dilemna’, not ‘dilemma’. I think that dilemma just looks too…clutterish. Anyway, I asked my friends about it (yes, I have no life) and they were all looking at me weirdly about the different spelling. Perhaps my old English teacher was just seriously illiterate or something? (I know for sure that my current one is, but she hasn’t mentioned any of the sort)
wrote lauren :) on May 19, 2006 4:34 PM
welcome all. This is just too weird. Lately, at dinner with friends (educated here in Montreal during the 70s and 80s, like me) I mentioned this post and all the comments I was getting, and they too told me they were taught to spell it “-mna.” I think we’re going to have to refer this to a team of ninja philologists, or at least the editors of the OED. I’ll let you know what I find out.
wrote AJ Kandy on May 21, 2006 11:37 PM
I was educated in New Jersey, graduating high school in 1963, and I was never taught the mna form. I’m a natural speller (went to the National Spelling Bee)and would definitely have noticed if the usage I’d picked up from reading was challenged in school. I don’t recall actively being taught the mma form but certainly would have noticed the other (it’s so counterintuitive).
A friend who grew up on Long Island, NY and learned the mna form (same age)drew this to my attention.
Judi
wrote Judi Green on June 19, 2006 10:01 AM
I went to school in Glasgow, Scotland more than 45 years ago. I was taught that the correct spelling was ‘dilemna’. I’ve also tried to find this word in dictionaries and have not been able to do so to date. I would like to find an old school copy of a dictionary used back in the 50s and 60s.
I did find the word in another web site under the following quote from the bible:-
“Matthew 21:1-46
I also will ask you one thing… (v.24)-
He places them on the horns of a dilemna. v.25,26”
wrote Rosina on July 4, 2006 8:59 PM
I am one of the shocked who has spelled dilemna wrong, supposedly, for over 20 years…I even remember “Emma’s Dilemna”, a book that discussed the issue or at least referred to it…I was born in Caracas, Venezuela and graduated high school in 1985…I was even in charge of an etymology bulletin board in 5th grade!
wrote Jennifer on August 25, 2006 10:59 PM
I don’t understand, I must have written essays and letters with this word in before, and I have never had it corrected! I thought maybe it was a British thing and it was you Americans spelling things funny again, but apparently not! What a dilemna-dilemma, how to spell it. Well I protest - I shall continue to spell it dilemna, it just doesn’t seem right the other way.
wrote Sarah on November 9, 2006 3:47 PM
I am English born and bred - imagine my surprise when the spellchecker complained about “dilemna”. After spelling the word the same way for the best part of 61 years I too rushed for the dictionary. I was completely shocked that “dilemna” was not there - instead this funny word “dilemma” (a printing mistake in the dictionary? - no can’t be!!) What a dilemna (or should that be dilemma)
wrote Peter on November 14, 2006 3:08 PM
I’ll be darned! I’m 43 and have been spelling dilemma dilemna. How can so many of us have the wrong idea about this word? It is astounding to me! I’m a Canadian if that makes a difference.
cogito, ergo sum… or so I thought.
wrote bizziboi on November 22, 2006 8:45 PM
Very pleased to have discovered this topic. I, like many of you, remember being taught — “pronounced ‘dilemma’ but spelled ‘dilemna’ with a silent ‘m’” — in school. In the mid-1990s, I came to the conclusion that the different spellings were related to the existence of multiple universes (vestiges of quantum theory) and the transfer of people between them. There are “dilemma” people and “dilemna” people. We, my compatriots, are refugees from another dimension in spacetime. : ) Live long and prosper.
wrote mdp on November 25, 2006 11:09 PM
I’m 46 years old, grew up in Montana, and was a spelling whiz. I learned to spell it mna also. I just learned about this last week, and it’s been driving me nuts ever since. I figgered, well, I’d just go to my old dictionaries to, as the one gentleman said, justify myself. I have old dictionaries and thesaruses going back into the 50’s … they all spell it wrong! I mean … with two m’s.
wrote josh on December 6, 2006 11:09 PM
Today, my world was rocked. I suddenly feel undeserving of those spelling-bee trophies.
I, too, learned “dilemna” in school (pronouncing the “n” in my head to remember the spelling) and looked down on those who misspelled it “dilemma”.
And I was *born* in 1986, so this can’t be just a generational thing.
wrote Paige on December 7, 2006 3:15 PM
Any explanation for people using “loose” when they actually mean “lose?” It seems I see this way too often for it to be mere clutzery.
Another bothersome misusage, which I often see in advertising, is the use of “everyday” when one really means “every day.”
wrote kadavy on February 7, 2005 1:05 PM