Listening...

...to a piece on the radio a few mornings ago, they were talking about spellings, and how some people have blind spots on certain words. Even the simplest words can go amiss, and be complicated to those who use them every day. The expert mentioned the most commonly misspelt word is "definitely". It's a word I love...it means so much, and is so misused.

The most common misspelling is using an "a" instead of the second "i"...spelling it definately...it's the way our differing dialects make it sound...but the English language doesn't work that way, it very often throws the phonetic rules out the window...my Mum keeps telling me that the Americans have it right in saying "lieutenant", it hasn't got an "f" in it! (more about the lieutenant later) A phonetic catastrophe...

And don't think spell-check will help...if you misspell it gives you many choices. Going back to definitely...I had a friend who had spell-checked it, and it had given him defiantly...it made for interesting reading. I think after awhile he left it on purpose...he liked a good joke.

Now...about lieutenant. If anyone ever gets close enough to Canterbury Cathedral for a visit, go down into the crypt, walk around looking at the walls...and there you'll find an old memoriam...it's to a lefftenant. Now is that the correct pronunciation?

Sorry about this, but the weirdest things peke my interest...one day I might bore you with my intense dislike of "two times"...where did twice go?