This is really mundane and pointless, but I find I must share. I have noticed a disturbing trend of late of people on this very board, who should know better, spelling the word hamsters thus: hampsters.
There is no such word. The proper spelling of the official SDMB animal is “hamster”. The little guys do so much for us, and they ask so little in return. Just food, fresh water, and clean cedar shavings every other day.
BTW I looked in several online dictionaries and hampster wasn’t in any of them. If someone can find a reputable dictionary entry for it, I withdraw my rant.
Sorry, no. It’s hamster. The OP’s link is to a Google search on the incorrect spelling, which shows only that 9,280 pages have webmasters with limited spelling skills. Notice that the Google search asks, “Did you mean to Search for hamsters?” which returns 253,000 hits for the correct spelling. 3.6 percent hardly calls for stopping the presses at Merriam-Webster. And let’s please remember that Google searches are useful only as a general guide to usage, not a concrete reference.
I’d surely be interested in a cite from a bona fide dictionary that allows “hampster” (because I seriously doubt that one exists). Neither of my Merriam-Websters has it.
We don’t keep our cedar chips in your toilet – so please don’t P on the hamsters. Or something like that.
<mild hijack consisting of cute story in support of the “HamPster the hamster” theory>
When my son was 3, we brought home a hamster. He gleefully shouted “Mouse!” We, rationally, explained that this was a hamster. “See the little tail?” “See, it’s bigger and fatter.” He, disdainfully, shouted “Mouse!” “No, honey, this is a hamster.” “Mouse.” “Hamster.” “MOUSE!”
So, Mouse the hamster lived happily with us for several uneventful years.
Can’t remember what thread I read it in, but way back when this board was started (AOL days), “hamsters” was misspelled as “hampsters” so often that it has become a sort of in-joke for some members of the board to spell it that way.
And even if people are starting to horribly misspell “hamster” I still don’t see it as a big deal, just another blip in the evolution of language. Were there grammar Nazis before the twentieth century?
I always figured that a hampster was a hamster that lived in a hamper. And I wouldn’t want to tamper with that, because hamsters in hampers kind of freak me out–puts a damper on things–and then I’m not a happy camper.
