How do you spell this word...

[DisMN]

It's possible those that learned "dilemna" had teachers that didn't know themselves how to spell it. In fact the younger you are the more likely I would think that is.
I've seen a ton of younger school teachers who seem to have made it through college without learning how to spell.

 

[Carl]

It's dilemma.

Here's a writing tip I got from one of my college journalism professors. I always pass it on to anyone I help with writing. If you aren't completely sure of the correct spelling of a word, use one with the same meaning that you can spell. For example, if you can't spell "ridiculous," use "stupid." It's always better to use a correctly spelled word, even if it doesn't sound as impressive.

So, given the rule, the correct spelling of the word in question would be: p-i-c-k-l-e.

That is unless you don't know how to spell pickle either.

 

[disney4us2002]

I only ever remember dilemma but then again I also never heard of spilt or spelt until I started reading posts here. There was a teacher not too long ago that used "spelt" in her post title and I tripped over the post.... It just doesn't look right to me.

 

[Jennasis]

Whooooooo boy...the Dis is messed up!

 

[Scurvy]

I'm posting this on the "How do you spell this word?" thread, but given how the Dis is behaving today I'm not sure that's where it will end up!

I grew up in the southern US and I was taught "dilemna" back in the 70s. I know that's wrong so I don't spell it that way now. I wish I knew how it started - it seems to be too widespread to have been a matter of a few bad teachers who didn't know how to spell.

 

[136368]

It could be an older spelling. There are several examples of this. For example, the traditional spelling of "jail" would be "gaol".

 

[englishteacha]

As an English teacher I am horrified that some of you were taught the incorrect spelling of a word! I apologize on behalf of my profession.

 

[KristaTX]

I've never seen nor heard "dilemna". I wonder if there was a textbook that had it wrong, and that somehow got taught to people for the years that the textbook was in use.

 

[mickeyboat]

I never heard of dilemna either, and I was schooled in MN, MO, KS, VT and NC.

 

[Krystallen]

That's weird. So to the ones who spell it dilemna, do you pronounce it with the n or no?

 

[alex9179]

I've never seen nor heard "dilemna". I wonder if there was a textbook that had it wrong, and that somehow got taught to people for the years that the textbook was in use.

This! After all, if it's in print it must be true

I grew up in Missouri (70s and 80s) and never saw "dilemna". Do you pronounce the "n" or is it silent?
Regional dialect is fun. In college I had a friend from St. Louis who told me to get some cordboard. I had no idea what that was! I was asking all kinds of questions and she kept yelling "CORDBOARD! CORDBOARD! How can you not know what CORDBOARD is?" I finally figured out that she was talking about cardboard.

 

[Disney Ella]

I've only been taught "dilemma" and "spilled." (I was in elementary school in the 70s in western PA.)

For those of you who were taught "dilemna," did you pronounce the "n"?

 

[Janepod]

I have never heard of it spelled with an N before. I am in my 40s and went to school in the northeast and Europe. I'm curious - those of you who spell it with an N, how old are you? What part of the country?

Here's another one I never heard before: my son's preschool teacher taught them that W is a sometimes vowel, like Y. Was anyone else taught this?

 

[Music City Mama]

I must be living under a rock . . . as many misspellings as I've come across in my life, this is a new one on me.

That's weird. So to the ones who spell it dilemna, do you pronounce it with the n or no?

I'm wondering the same thing.

 

[fly girl]

No, I don't pronounce it with the 'n' sound. But I do remember when learning how to spell it I put the 'n' sound in so I would remember.


I am a 70's-80's kid who grew up in MI and AZ. I moved the summer after 6th grade so I think dilemna was taught to me in AZ. Not positive though.


By the research I found on the internet it is a widespread problem so it had to be several textbooks screwing it up for us. It is such a mystery to me!

 

[cornflake]

I don't think it's textbooks, as people rarely learn to spell from textbooks, but from teacher-generated spelling word lists and such.

I know it's not in the dictionary under 'dilemNa' so I'd think it had to be a regionalism passed on by teachers.

That is a bizarre, and new one, to me. I've never seen it. I've seen people misspell it with just one 'm' but never with an 'n.' I also don't understand how someone spelling it with the 'n' wouldn't pronounce it 'dil-em-Na' as, well, that's how they're spelling it!

 

[Mrs. H]

I went to school in the 70's in Maine, and I think I learned to spell it "dilemna"... it was pronounced just like "dilemma". The N is silent... like "hymn".

 

[cornflake]

I went to school in the 70's in Maine, and I think I learned to spell it "dilemna"... it was pronounced just like "dilemma". The N is silent... like "hymn".

There's no other letter in hymn, let alone a vowel. In 'hymnal' the 'n' is pronounced.

'Dilemna' spelled with the 'n' like that, should be pronounced with the 'n' in that place.

 

[JVL1018]

I too, learned dilemna. Graduated HS in 1989 in NJ.
I have been writing dilemma for years now, but I always do think of the n in there. I also learned pompon, not pompom. But that one is in the dictionary. And again, I use pompom now.

 

[pixiewings71]

I was taught dilemna, I went to school in OR, I'm 40. I specifically remember because I would pronounce it with the "n" sound when I was learning to spell it but the "n" was silent. Again, just like hymn, where the "n" is silent. I still spell it with the "n" and then my auto-correct freaks out. lol