How do you spell this word...

[Bonnie151]

Wow, I had no idea! I was taught "dilemna" - Massachusetts school 1970s/80s. Dilemma just looks strange to me!

 

[teacherforhi]

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?

I can answer the W question. If the W is in conjunction with a vowel, it is part of a diphthong and creates a new sound. Think 'saw' and 'paw'. The W itself isn't strictly a vowel, but it doesn't have its own sound either.

 

[Diznygrl]

Wow, that is really bizarre. I've never heard of this "dilemna" phenomenon. I was born in '81 and it's always been dilemma in my world. Now I'm REALLY curious about the origins of dilemna and how it became so widespread and why it was able to persist...

 

[phorsenuf]

I

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?

I was taught in grade school (early 70's) A-E-I-O-U, sometimes Y and W. It had a little tune too it.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Dilemma. I can't imagine it spelled dilemna.

 

[fly girl]

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.

I learned pompon too! I didn't even know pompom was considered correct.


My goodness . . . what did these teachers in the 70's/80's do to us?

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

Kind of like the word quay...an accepted pronunciation is kee. Overall english is a strange language...not unlike esperanto, which is weirder.

 

[Eeyore98]

I have to wonder if some of ya'll were taught by my SIL, the 6th-grade English teacher who can't spell and doesn't know how to create an outline.

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.

That's funny, because I grew up in St. Louis, and it's definitely cArdboard to my ears...almost cAHrdboard. But then, there are other supposed St. Louis-isms (like warsh for wash) that I don't do, so maybe I'm the weird one.

 

[cm8]

I learned pompon too! I didn't even know pompom was considered correct.


My goodness . . . what did these teachers in the 70's/80's do to us?

, We learned Dilemna too vs Dilemma , The N was silent as well

 

[Magic Mom]

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!

This. The n is silent, but when I'm writing, I say then in my head to remember to how to spell it.

I grew up in Tampa. I went to public and private schools.

 

[Bonnie151]

How embarrassing that my 9 year old son knew how to spell dilemma but I didn't! Good grief, I'm mortified (especially as the conversation was held in front of my horrified husband!)!

 

[fly girl]

Oh man! I should have made this a poll thread.


It seems that there are many of us who learned to spell it dilemna.

 

[Schmeck]

Any idea what the basis of the curricula was when you were taught to spell dilemma with an n? The 70's and 80's were a time of vastly differing curricula, and some educational marketing group could have screwed up and promoted the odd spelling.

This reminds me of the student behavioral plans I've had to read this year. One company has so many mispellings that I wonder how it stays in business.

 

[Krystallen]

I'm a 90s-00s kid, in a non-English speaking country, and was taught dilemma.

 

[Becky2005]

I am of the dilemna version of spelling it.

It must be one of those new ways of spelling things phonetically? The one thing I have learned by the kids going to school is that I have no clue about anything. Pretty much everything I was taught in school has completely changed.

 

[cornflake]

I am of the dilemna version of spelling it.

It must be one of those new ways of spelling things phonetically? The one thing I have learned by the kids going to school is that I have no clue about anything. Pretty much everything I was taught in school has completely changed.

Phonetically, it's dilemma. The whole 'silent n' thing makes no sense, given it's followed by a vowel.

 

[Becky2005]

I learned pompon too! I didn't even know pompom was considered correct.


My goodness . . . what did these teachers in the 70's/80's do to us?

I do remember it being pompon also but it was one of those words I could never wrap my head around & I need to go check because I think there is a brand that is spelled Pompon that the craft ones come in.

I'm laughing because I graduated in 1986 and after reading this thread have decided it really must have been the time because it is one of those things that if many people know it across the board -- it had to have been taught somewhere. It can't possibly just be regional or one little section.

Similar to Monopolies money in the middle -- which isn't in the rules anywhere but I'm convinced it had to be somewhere originally as how in the world would almost everyone know it across the board to the point that it is printed that is a "house rule" not a real rule. My hunch is at some point it was written as a rule or suggested by the company or something. I mean if I live in IL and you live in TX, we have never met but somehow we both know that rule for the game -- then it originated from somewhere & this was WAY before internet, e-mail and anything else that could make it go viral! We even still had rotary phones! So the only way it could be is it was printed somewhere in the instructions when you bought the game.

 

[Becky2005]

Phonetically, it's dilemma. The whole 'silent n' thing makes no sense, given it's followed by a vowel.

It may not make sense but there are many words in the English language that make no sense whatsoever with the way they are spelled. They don't follow any particular rule and usually break whatever rule they are supposed to follow in the first place.

It is the most frustrating thing when you have a child with reading issues, they are so proud to master a rule and then hit a word that doesn't follow it at all.

Since a ton of people learned to spell it dilemna, my guess is that either it was a typo in tons of books or at the time everyone just assumed it was an exception to any rule and that is just how you spelled it. Apparently the teachers didn't question it either.

I just looked it up to see if there were any similar words with such issues and the only one mentioned was receipt -- you could skip the p and still have the same sounding word.

What is really interesting is no one has any idea how the dilemna issue got started. I'm wondering if there was a typo in an original dictionary or something. My parents have this HUGE dictionary (it was the best thing ever)...it's old now though, so I'm going to have to see if they still have it & look it up in that dictionary to see what it says.

 

[mjkacmom]

Third grade spelling word this year: dilemma

 

[Pugsley]

This is so funny and now I feel vindicated! I must have been one of those people who learned it as dilemna (grew up in the 60s in California). I spell it dilemma now, but every time I see it or use it I feel like it is supposed to have an "n" even though that makes absolutely no sense. I never understood why until now!