How do you spell this word...

[tiggger1]

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

same here!

 

[gina2000]

Dilemna. Dilemma looks wrong to me. Also educated in the 60s - private and public schools.

 

[fly girl]

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.

Oh yeah, look it up! Keep us posted.

Third grade spelling word this year: dilemma

Third grade?! Why did I think that was taught later? Maybe because in my day we put a silent "n" in it!

Well then my teaching of dilemna would have been in Michigan in the early 80's.

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!

Welcome to the group!






OK, since this thread came back I am going to post a spin-off of this with a poll. Should be interesting to see the percentages.

 

[kaytieeldr]

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

Then you use "mess" or "fix" .

 

[kaytieeldr]

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

Made even stranger because this word is actually French
quay [kiː]
(Social Science / Human Geography) a wharf, typically one built parallel to the shoreline Compare pier [1]
[C14 keye, from Old French kai, of Celtic origin; compare Cornish kē hedge, fence, Old Breton cai fence]

But Esperanto is entirely different.