# Let's all try to spell "hamsters" without a "P", shall we? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808 "2003-05-08T01:38:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Copper\_moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@Copper\_moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Copper_moon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/41 "2003-05-09T01:52:57Z")
I just assumed that everyone was intentionally spelling it that way because of Hampton the dancing hampster. The guy who made the hampsterdance website said that anyone who said that there was no P in Hampster had never had a hampster. I loved the cheesy little website and will continue to put the P where it belongs. Sorry if it irritates anyone. Well not really. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/42 "2003-05-09T01:53:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > **I cringe when it’s spelt "hamPster** OK, Flam **p** sterette\_X, whatever you say… And FTR, I do too! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/43 "2003-05-09T02:00:42Z")
“Hampster” is just as acceptable as “cow-orker” and “gotcha-ya.” ---
**Author:** ![athene1765](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@athene1765](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athene1765)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/44 "2003-05-09T14:04:08Z")
Try [www.oed.com](http://www.oed.com)… ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/45 "2003-05-09T14:33:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by athene1765 \* > \*\*Try [www.oed.com](http://www.oed.com)… \*\* Try [http://www.oed.com](http://www.oed.com) without the ellipsis. Then, have your credit card ready for a **$550** subscription fee. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/46 "2003-05-09T14:38:30Z")
The OED’s word of the day for May 9, 2003, is “slam”, and “slamm” is listed as an alternate spelling. I hardly think many people would consider “slamm” correct. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/47 "2003-05-09T14:49:28Z")
The nice thing about working at a major university is that they already have a subscription to the OED. It says the _hampster_ is an alternative spelling, but so is _hamester_. It also says that the word is derived from the German _hamster_, Middle High German _hamster_, and ultimately the Old High German _hamastro_ (masculine) and Old Saxon _hamstra_ (feminine). The “P” seems to have crept in sometime in the 19th Century: > [@](#): > > 1895 Spectator 23 Nov. 722/1 Lining-furs, such as squirrel, hampster, musk-rat. Seems to be a newspaper typo. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/48 "2003-05-09T15:21:49Z")
Last I checked, a subscription to [OED.com](http://OED.com) was more expensive than a brand-new dead-tree compact edition of the second edition (soon to be succeeded by the third ed). On the other hand, if you’d like a compact ed (two volumes instead of twenty, plus a handy magnifying glass!) and you have some cash to spare, try [www.abebooks.com](http://www.abebooks.com) – that’s where I got my beloved first ed for like ninety bucks plus four bucks shipping. (Okay, so the poor store got scalped by the software that charges shipping per book without noticing that it costs a lot more than four bucks to ship the entire English language) Oh, and to make a comment at least tangentially relating to the OP – of _course_ Hampster has a P in it. Do you have any _idea_ how much Mountain Dew and Jolt that poor thing drinks? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/49 "2003-05-09T15:35:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > \*\*Only if you’re done with your hamp sandwich. \*\* Freddie Starr ate my hamp sandwich ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/50 "2003-05-09T17:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GingerOfTheNorth \* > \*\*…Or, in Hampden in Baltimore, where he learns to say “hon” and has really, really big hair. \*\* How do you give a hamster big hair? Maybe a blow-dry and then a tease with a rattail comb? ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/51 "2003-05-09T19:14:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Terminus Est \* > \*\*It also says that the word is derived from the German _hamster_, Middle High German _hamster_, and ultimately the Old High German _hamastro_ (masculine) and Old Saxon _hamstra_ (feminine). \*\* I like hamastro…I think the new spelling spelling for a breeder of hamsters should be hamaestro (hamster master). By the way, can you cross a Guinea pig with a hamster? Would that make a hampigster? : ) ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/52 "2003-05-09T19:17:52Z")
No one is sure what the offspring off a hamster and a guinea pig would be. It’s hampiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/53 "2003-05-09T19:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TWDuke \* > \*\*No one is sure what the offspring off a hamster and a guinea pig would be. It’s hampiguous. \*\* Would it also be hampdrogenous? ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/54 "2003-05-09T19:59:27Z")
What about Hamster and Gerbil? “Hamgerster”, “Hambster”? No, maybe “Germster”? This just in: “What is hamburger? Chopped ham?” “No!! It’s chopped hamster!” “Ahhhhhh…” ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/55 "2003-05-09T20:51:02Z")
[impossibly obscure reference]Hamster and Gerbil are alive and well and they’re living in Berlin. She is a cocktail waitress. He had a part in a Fassbinder film.[/impossibly obscure reference] ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/56 "2003-05-10T07:04:54Z")
Like you and Rico,Flamsterette,I also cringe,but not at the spelling of the rodent. I cringe at your use of the word “SPELT”,when I think you meant “SPELLED”. My M-W Online says SPELT is a split piece of wood,or a form of wheat. Therefore SPELT,or even “SPELPT”, is incorrect. Of course I haven’t looked up SPELPT;I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/57 "2003-05-10T14:54:40Z")
I read a book in which there was a creature mentioned that was a vampire hamster. I’ts owner used it to clean blood off of the clothes of people that had been injured. It was referred to as a “vampster” ---
**Author:** ![DanWPsl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e95f7d/32.png) [@DanWPsl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanWPsl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/58 "2003-05-10T16:44:31Z")
one of my friends has a cat that he named pussylips. just thought id let you know ---
**Author:** ![Kithara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8491ac/32.png) [@Kithara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kithara)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/59 "2003-05-10T17:12:07Z")
We often referred to my high school french teacher as Hampster. Her last name was Hampton, but she was short and cute and somehow brought to mind a hamster. She was also a lot of fun and didn’t seem to mind our nickname. I had the best time in that class. Course I was in the same group that renamed an english teacher with the last name of Norwood, to Nortree. We weren’t really very creative. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808/60 "2003-05-11T05:25:07Z")
Bunnicula is a vampire bunny. I know of no hampsters who suck blood. I do know that I’ll stop using the P when you agree to call the dogs grayhounds. Meanwhile, if one more person uses the term “gender” when he or she or other is discussing sex, I’ll have a cow. And then my cow-worker and my pleasant co-workers will pitch fits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-try-to-spell-hamsters-without-a-p-shall-we/173808.md?page=4)