Pause For a Spelling Story
Posted by Sarah on 18 Jan 2006 at 05:01 pm | Tagged as: Thinking Happy Thoughts
I recently learned that I have been misspelling “judgment” for all of my life. (I was adding an “e”, like many people do.) Interestingly enough, I felt momentarily superior to the woman sitting next to me in a meeting today, who had spelled it incorrectly.
I learned that one very late in life too somehow. It still bugs me though because I don’t understand why no “e”. It’s just illogical to me.
Also illogical? Why the possessive “its” can’t have an apostrophe. I’m troubled. Deeply troubled.
This comment may launch a blog post.
It is correct to spell it either way.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=judgment, you are both superior.
i was kicked out of the fifth grade spelling bee finals because of that word… it caused quite a scandal because it can be spelled either way. my teacher and my mom were arguing that my way was correct… but i got booted because it was spelled “judgment” on the spelling master list…. i hate that word.
Look at this page, though:
Judgment or Judgement?
Sara–I suppose of all the words to hate, that would be an appropriate one!
Sarah, isn’t it funny the things we learn later in life? It wasn’t until I was a sophomore in college that I learned “sophomore” had an o in the middle!
There was a time when ain’t wasn’t acceptable either. The hillbillies won. Judgment has been mis-spelled so many times by so many people that rather than hurt any feelings, it’s now accepted. That way no one is superior. Actually, it might be an American vs. British way of spelling, but I would need to research it to be sure. Might do that when I have nothing better to do. Here are some examples of those…enquire or inquire? analog or analogue? paralyse or paralyze?
Sorry about the bee…:O)
Along those lines, Kimbob, is dialog, or dialogue. Or how about blond? Most people spell it blonde.
Mel, for the longest time, I thought it was “Core-uh-vet”, but it’s just Corvette. Silly me.
Had, we’re both spelling bee survivors (notice I didn’t say “losers”…)! In the documentary “Spellbound”, they said that adults who were close to winning a spelling bee always remember the word that killed it for them! It was “jewelry” for me in the 3rd grade bee.
We say it like it should be jewlery.
that’s nothing though, if you live in Milwaukee, WI, you pronounce “drinking fountain” Bubbler. Yes, really.
According to my NIV Bible, it’s “judgment”. If there’s any authority on the subject, I guess that would be it…
Not the KJV? (The horror!)
I never participated in a spelling bee (too shy! fear of failure!) but I’ll never forget my friend Lisa, who “lost” the middle school spelling bee by spelling travesty t-r-a-v-i-s-t-y.
Later, when we were in high school, the subject of that spelling bee came up, and she told me she’d never forget that word.
Oh, and judgment? That’s how I learned it: one of those quirky exceptions to the rule. Like supersede, the only word to end in -sede.
Hmmmm. I might have had some great English teachers.
The KJV also uses the “E”less spelling. That’s a good translation for people living in the 1600s, and the language is beautiful, but hard on the modern brain, I thinketh.