There are two separate (or discrete ;)) issues here:
Living languages do inevitably change over time, usually in the direction of conflating elements that were originally separate or accepting as standard usages that used to be universally rejected as errors.
Consequently, “correcting a mistake” -> “pedantic nitpicking” -> “obsolete distinction” is a very common trajectory as standard forms of language change. And yes, insisting on different spellings of “discreet” and “discrete” may very well go that route someday.
That doesn’t mean that correcting variant usages that are still considered mistakes in the current standard written form of the language is a bad thing to do. Most mistakes in written English don’t actually make it clearer or easier to read for current users of the language, so why should we feel obliged to accept them as permissible variants?
As for “conducting business and earning a living”, it seems pretty clear that giving business free rein to construct its own English idiom without worrying about “pedantic points” of grammar and syntax hasn’t been very successful at making English easier to deal with.
In fact, “businessese” or “corporate jargon” is notorious for producing a great deal of the most clumsy, obscure, pretentious, unreadable writing to be found in the English-speaking world today. (Gobbledygook generator.) Maybe if we paid a little more attention to “pedantic points” of grammar, vocabulary, spelling, etc., we wouldn’t get so much tedious gibberish pervading the places where we’re trying to conduct business.
Yes, I’m aware of that. That makes it an excellent candidate for a homophone. The meaning can easily be gleaned from the context of the sentence.
There’s no confusion with the word lie. If a character in a story is called a dirty lying bastard, no one will think the character is unshaven and watching tv in his favorite La-Z-Boy recliner. The word has two entirely different meanings and it’s a rather satisfying solution to misspelled homonyms.
Sue went to the store, fell down, and fractured her leg. Sue sued the store for a million dollars. The meaning of the word sue in those two contexts is quite clear.
This thread has reminded me about discrete/discreet and I’ll make a point to choose the correct one in the future.
Correction, homonyms are words that are spelled the same and different meanings. Homophone is usually spelled differently. I always did get those two mixed up in school.
Americans use “alternate” in a way that grinds my gears (unnecessarily replacing “alternative”). But it’s a losing battle, especially since it could be convincingly argued that I’m the one in the wrong.
I think the “discrete” “discreet” distinction is also one of those losing battle situations. I know there’s a difference, but remembering which is which is the part that messes me up. I also get confused with “defence” and “defense,” as well as “practice” and “practise.”
I also suspect that the error is due to a lack of familiarity with the discreet spelling and I must admit, as laissez-faire as I tend to be about spelling, I have a hard time not thinking less of people who misuse discrete and discreet but I work on it.
The spelling quirk that drives me crazy is when people use the word “worse” instead of “worst”. E.g. “This is the worse trip I’ve ever been on.” I swear, I never saw anyone write that when I was a kid and now I see it regularly.
I think it’s because the “t” in “worst” is almost dropped in pronunciation if you say it lazily. I often say the same thing with words that end in “-ed” losing those two letters.
IOU as an abbreviation dates back to the 1600s. LOL, BRB and AFK are not aberrations but part of a long tradition. And remember, language and writing are for communication. If it impedes communication it will be dropped or modified until it is not an obstacle. If people are communicating in a format that you don’t understand, it is you who are lacking, not them.
I’ve always known that the two words have unrelated meanings, but it was only a few years ago that I learned (from this board, of course) that they have different spellings. If I had ever noticed that both “discrete” and “discreet” make it through the spellchecker, I would have just assumed that one was an alternate spelling.
The one that really drives me mad, though, is “capital” vs. “capitol”. If I ask you verbally what you call the place where the legislature meets, there’s no problem, because they’re pronounced the same way. But if I ask in writing, you won’t know how to spell your answer unless you know what I mean by “place”: The city or the building?
The meaning of the word sue in those two contexts is quite clear.