Why does the word “definitely” get so constantly misspelled as definately? I remember being shocked to learn somewhat recently that I had spelled it wrong all my life - so it could be that I notice it more often than other misspelled words, but that doesn’t explain the frequency with which it is misspelled:
An SDMB search reveals that the word “definately” appears in 3704 posts on this message board, as of this post. (For hamspter’s sake, I will not post the link to that search). Since I consider the SDMB a better than average representation of good spellers in the world, I can only conclude that there must be something about this word that causes people to misspell it more than other words.
Maybe it was spelled wrong in some popular Grade School Spelling book? Maybe the word-ending “ately” is such a common spelling that we all just assume it should be spelled definately? It’s not like any of these misspellings are typos - the “i” and “a” are way too far apart on the QWERTY keyboard for that.
Now, before Manhattan swears at me <g> I’m truly hoping some sort of linguistic expert can point me to a definitive explanation here, hence GQ.
[sub]I have poured over this post on Preview, so if anything has been misspelled, Gaudere’s Law has been proven.[/sub]
I also think it has to do with pronunciation: I have the bad habit of saying it: “deff-in-uht-ly,” and of course, a good deal of spelling mistakes are because people sometimes spell phonetically.
Spelling often gives lignuists an idea of how languages used to sound. Before spelling was standardised, people spelled the way they spoke. 1600s Engish, for example, sounded a lot like Appalacians trying to fake an English accent.
But samarm, if you look up the common ways in which people misspell “disastrous” and “government” on the SDMB, you will find a much smaller number than 3704.
Example: “disasterous” - 207. “goverment” - 600.
I maintain this particular word is misspelled more than any other.
And I was inferring that there was one hampster.
Lissa - point taken, but in my case I pronounce it “de-fin-IT-ly” and I misspelled it for a couple of decades…
I’d wager that it’s because definitely is used more often than disastrous and government. You can use definitely in any sentence on any subject; the latter two are more limited in their usage.
I agree with the pronunciation theory. But I also think that at some point, years of not being corrected or not realizing one’s misspelling kick in, and the habit forms. And if a lot of people are misspelling the same word, it’ll be a while before they get corrected or even see their mistake.
Sorry, ** samarm. ** For some odd reason, I’ve been having a 'puter problem: there’s an inordinately long pause after I post, sometimes up to ten minutes before it moves on to the “Thank You” screen.
I pronounce it defin-it-ley but am always spelling it definately. Maybe I’m an exception, but I also suspect I’ve internalized some spelling rule or sumpin’.
