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Rule (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Should we just let any old thing that slips into common usage to become the norm?

Yes.

Why not spell it "definately"? It's very common and everyone understands it.

I don't think that quite meets the threshold yet, since most people who do that would still agree that it's not correct. However, it's close, and I wouldn't be against recording it as an alternative spelling.

It's a bit tangential, but English spelling is awful anyway, it bears hardly any relationship to the pronunciation, and I think it's great if it evolves to be a bit less unintuitive.

I suppose you probably do accept the existence of American spellings, even if you aren't from there? So the only difference between us is time, and how many people use a variant. Everyone is a descriptivist, some people just also think they should force their opinions on others, which is wrong. ;)