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Finite is the root word for many other words such as "infinite", "infinity", "definite" and "definitely", yet I see "definitely" misspelled "definately" all the time here and elsewhere too. I did a search of this forum on the misspelling "definately" and found 4,928 instances where the word, "definitely" is misspelled as "definately". If one searches for the correct spelling, "definitely", it turns up 25,488. That's a full 16% of the combined instances of the word, ignoring other possible less common misspellings that might be around. Sadly, a huge preponderance of the errors are by forum members in the US and UK where English is likely the first language of most of those forum users. Finite, definite, infinite, they are all share the same etymology and there isn't a letter "a" to be found in any of them. There are forum rules for avoiding "net speak" and "leet speak" in favor of correct English, but even when people follow that rule there are clearly some challenges in getting correct English to be used as a standard. Strangely, I had never even seen this now common misspelling until I started looking at Warhammer forums and blogs a few years ago. I find it even more surprising given how much reading is required to play fantasy games like Warhammer. Often good spelling and grammar are learned through experience if not through school because when people read a lot they tend to learn correct usage just from the experience of seeing correct grammar and spelling all the time, yet a fair sized chunk of the gaming community seems immune to "learning by doing" in this manner. "Just sayin'" as the kids like to say these days. Or to put it another way, no wonder the Eldar sometimes have a condescending attitude toward humans.

You've definately made a good point here.

My butt is the latin root for my poop.


wazzahpointOFdis?

Just wait until you see the "they're, there and their" thing, your mind will collapse.

im surprised that the many posts like this paragraph havent also caught your attention you know the ones where shift doesnt work or is in the entirely Wrong place and there is no punctuation for miles and it will usually end with a bunch of emoticons strung together like some secret code

I was thinking of purposefully inserting a post full of poor grammar, but we definately don't want that.

I often make this mistake and have to go back and correct it. It's mainly because I usually pronounce it like it's spelled with an A.

BrassScorpion wrote:...in favor of correct English...

Don't get me started on Yank perversions of our Mother Tongue

It's not a misspelling I've seen so often, compared to the likes of 'rediculous', 'independant' and the wilful application of the greengrocer's apostrophe (the latter really winds me up, although the medication helps these days).

Dakka is by far the best forum I've seen in terms of coherent posts though

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

hope they are fresher than this old one

Ulver wrote:

BrassScorpion wrote:...in favor of correct English...

Don't get me started on Yank perversions of our Mother Tongue

Don't be mad. Its not our fault you spawned the language but can't even pronounce words correctly. Shameful really.

Ok, you asked for it...

Pearl Harbour

Flashman wrote:Ok, you asked for it...

Pearl Harbour

Ummm, Revolutionary War. I win! I mean er....WE WON!

BrassScorpion wrote:Or to put it another way, no wonder the Eldar sometimes have a condescending attitude toward humans.

In other words yourself?

Not meaning to keep a pointless thread going but this isn't exactly an english lesson and to have a gripe about spelling and grammar yet make mistakes in your own diatribe is a bit of an oxymoron. No one is perfect and language is constantly evolving to include new words and meanings.

As not_u says just wait until lots of there, their and they're's come in. As long as the message is understood and it's not in let speak most people on here are very tolerant; we need to be otherwise nothing gets said as everyone is correcting each and every post.

Dakka aint so bad though most people type proper as most 'ave been to skool nd remembur stuff.

n0t_u wrote:Just wait until you see the "they're, there and their" thing, your mind will collapse.

im surprised that the many posts like this paragraph havent also caught your attention you know the ones where shift doesnt work or is in the entirely Wrong place and there is no punctuation for miles and it will usually end with a bunch of emoticons strung together like some secret code

Ugh!
Don't even get me started on the American phrase mangling that is "I could care less"....

Grimtuff wrote:

n0t_u wrote:Just wait until you see the "they're, there and their" thing, your mind will collapse.

im surprised that the many posts like this paragraph havent also caught your attention you know the ones where shift doesnt work or is in the entirely Wrong place and there is no punctuation for miles and it will usually end with a bunch of emoticons strung together like some secret code

Ugh!
Don't even get me started on the American phrase mangling that is "I could care less"....

Ok, then whats the british way to say it?

Peter Wiggin wrote:

Grimtuff wrote:

n0t_u wrote:Just wait until you see the "they're, there and their" thing, your mind will collapse.

im surprised that the many posts like this paragraph havent also caught your attention you know the ones where shift doesnt work or is in the entirely Wrong place and there is no punctuation for miles and it will usually end with a bunch of emoticons strung together like some secret code

Ugh!
Don't even get me started on the American phrase mangling that is "I could care less"....

Ok, then whats the british way to say it?

I believe it's pronounced 'I love socialism'.




Just kidding, the correct way to say that phrase is 'I COULDN'T care less'.

Grimtuff wrote:

n0t_u wrote:Just wait until you see the "they're, there and their" thing, your mind will collapse.

im surprised that the many posts like this paragraph havent also caught your attention you know the ones where shift doesnt work or is in the entirely Wrong place and there is no punctuation for miles and it will usually end with a bunch of emoticons strung together like some secret code

Ugh!
Don't even get me started on the American phrase mangling that is "I could care less"....

With you on that, I was considering starting a thread about that one.

Peter Wiggin wrote:My butt is the latin root for my poop.


wazzahpointOFdis?

Yep. Did you know that, when ill after eating something particularly disgusting and fetid, a weiner dog can puke fully half its body eight? Then they will try to lick you.

Albatross wrote:
Just kidding, the correct way to say that phrase is 'I COULDN'T care less'.

Yeah, and I've wondered why people believed otherwise. It isn't as if being able to care less about something is somehow remarkable.

"I never had any large respect for good spelling. That is my feeling yet. Before the spelling-book came with its arbitrary forms, men unconsciously revealed shades of their characters and also added enlightening shades of expression to what they wrote by their spelling, and so it is possible that the spelling-book has been a doubtful benevolence to us."

Samuel Langhorne Clemens

I agree that a certain standardization of grammar and spelling is necessary to get your point across, but one visit to YMDC and a debate like the Deffrolla/Ramming/Tankshock ought to show you that the standards of English are strictly of tertiary importance on this forum.

Better subject: "Latent grammar nazi spontaneously awakens upon realizing 18% of people misspell words!"

You're right, there is no 'a' in it. Guess what? Less people could read and write 100 years ago than today, and we've still not necessarily peaked where we are. Honestly, sometimes I'm just thrilled to death that people aren't grunting and beating each other with clubs, then I realize that we're all human and we all make stupid mistakes.

For some reason, I always spell them right, bar definitely. I always put an "A" in there, and don't know why.

I blame the school system.

Here, enjoy some Cummings:

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/e__e__cummings/poems/14693

Peter Wiggin wrote:

Flashman wrote:Ok, you asked for it...

Pearl Harbour

Ummm, Revolutionary War. I win! I mean er....WE WON!

Think you missed my cheeky mis-spelling of a place name i.e. Harbour instead or Harbor

Flashman wrote:

Peter Wiggin wrote:

Flashman wrote:Ok, you asked for it...

Pearl Harbour

Ummm, Revolutionary War. I win! I mean er....WE WON!

Think you missed my cheeky mis-spelling of a place name i.e. Harbour instead or Harbor

Oh you rascal

I think you'll find Peral Harbour is in fact correctly spelled here.

Our bloody language. Sod off and get your own!

Or do what we did and follow European countries down dark alleys, then mug them for loose grammar.

Mr Mystery wrote:I think you'll find Peral Harbour is in fact correctly spelled here.

Our bloody language. Sod off and get your own!

Or do what we did and follow European countries down dark alleys, then mug them for loose grammar.

Irony.

Fethsticks.

Note to Mods....putting the Feth word before it becomes feth before sticks stops it becoming feth. Thought you might want to know.

This situation has grown so sad that even so-called "professional" writers can't be bothered to run the spell-checker before publishing. This same error, the word definitely spelled with an "a" in it, appears on the Games Workshop website today. Here's the link. It's in the first sentence!

Yep. People can't be bothered to use the King's English all good and proper-like anymore.

I blame society.