Dilemma = Dilemna ??
Manfred Stede
word `dilemma' with `mn' instead of `mm', which is interesting,
because no dictionary (including Canadian) seems to support this
view.
Does anyone else know/use this spelling?
Any clue how (where) this spelling originated?
cheers,
manfred
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Manfred Stede mst...@cs.toronto.edu
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Toronto
Toronto M5S 1A4, Canada
conn...@memstvx1.memst.edu
> It appears that people from various parts of Canada spell the
> word `dilemma' with `mn' instead of `mm', which is interesting,
> because no dictionary (including Canadian) seems to support this
> view.
An example of Canadian tolerance, no doubt. They write _dilemna_
because they have never seen it condemmed. A damm shame, it semns.
--Leo Connolly
J.R.Terry-AEG
>It appears that people from various parts of Canada spell the
>word `dilemma' with `mn' instead of `mm', which is interesting,
>because no dictionary (including Canadian) seems to support this
>view.
>Does anyone else know/use this spelling?
>Any clue how (where) this spelling originated?
>cheers,
>manfred
Is it not perhaps yet another example of (North) American english (?)
speakers almost total inability to spell correctly? :-)
Or, perhaps I should in this group rather say, they seem not to be
capable of adhering to established spelling conventions! :-)
When in doubt, consult the dictionary (preferably OED).
(Flame-proof suit now being worn!)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>Manfred Stede mst...@cs.toronto.edu
>Dept. of Computer Science
>University of Toronto
>Toronto M5S 1A4, Canada
--
John R Terry j...@aeg.dsto.gov.au
Head, Avionic Computer Systems, Ph: +61 8 259 6982
Aircraft Systems Division, DSTO Salisbury, S.Aust. Fax: +61 8 259 5507
conn...@memstvx1.memst.edu
> mst...@cs.toronto.edu (Manfred Stede) writes:
>
>>It appears that people from various parts of Canada spell the
>>word `dilemma' with `mn' instead of `mm', which is interesting,
>>because no dictionary (including Canadian) seems to support this
>>view.
>
>>Does anyone else know/use this spelling?
>>Any clue how (where) this spelling originated?
>
>>cheers,
>>manfred
>
> Is it not perhaps yet another example of (North) American english (?)
> speakers almost total inability to spell correctly? :-)
What's interesting about dilemna is that it is oddly restricted to
Canada; no one so far has indicated even a single example from South
of the border. I teach German; there's no way I would defend the
spelling practices of most of my students, much less of other Americans.
But really, the USA isn't responsible for *all* the illiteracy in the
world. We just try to make it *seem* that way by electing the president
some of us (not I!) did.
--Leo Connolly
Roger Greenwald
>What's interesting about dilemna is that it is oddly restricted to
>Canada; no one so far has indicated even a single example from South
>of the border. I teach German; there's no way I would defend the
>spelling practices of most of my students, much less of other Americans.
>But really, the USA isn't responsible for *all* the illiteracy in the
>world. We just try to make it *seem* that way by electing the president
>some of us (not I!) did.
>
>--Leo Connolly
I just checked titles in the Library of Congress catalogue and came up
with the following:
1. The dilemna <sic> of Mexico. Blitman, Eli Herman (1965).
(The "<sic>" is in the LC record for this title. The book, it turns
out, was published in Mexico.)
2. The dilemna of Eurocommunism. Labour Party of Great Britain (1980).
There is no way of knowing whether the second book actually has this
spelling or whether the record for it contains an error made by the
cataloguer. That is, short of examining the book. Perhaps someone
out there can tell us whether Blitman is/was a Canadian. (Dict. of
Canadian Biography, anyone?) Then again, what if he was a Mexican and
hired a Canadian to translate the book? Or an American?
Perhaps someone who has access to large bodies of English text
identified by source (on CD-ROM) could search for "dilemna"
and see if it turns up in any documents from elswhere than Canada.
--
Roger Greenwald
Gree...@hf.uib.no (address valid only until 10 August 1992)
Mr. John T Jensen
>Is it not perhaps yet another example of (North) American english (?)
>speakers almost total inability to spell correctly? :-)
Not only North American, mate! You should (or, rather, you shouldn't) have
to read some of the stuff that passes for Master's theses here! The only
thing that protects them from things like 'dilemna' is spell-checkers ---
and these mostly can't help with homonyms.
jj
John Thayer Jensen 64 9 373 7599 ext. 7543
Commerce Computer Services 64 9 373 7437 (FAX)
Auckland University jt.j...@aukuni.ac.nz
Private Bag 92019
AUCKLAND
New Zealand
Mr. John T Jensen
SEVEN entries with 'dilemna' in them, doing a keyword search. Six
occurrences were in titles, the seventh in a blurb. One of the occurrences
was flagged <sic> indicating that the cataloguer recognised the misspelling.
Four of the books were published in London, one in New York, one in Reston,
Virginia, and one in Auckland.
This is horrifying! I had never seen this spelling until this thread
brought it to my attention. Now I'll never be able to overlook it. It's
like a doctor opening up a patient to remove an appendix and finding him
riddled with cancer!!
Margaret Mikulska
>
>I just checked titles in the Library of Congress catalogue and came up
>with the following:
>
>1. The dilemna <sic> of Mexico. Blitman, Eli Herman (1965).
>(The "<sic>" is in the LC record for this title. The book, it turns
>out, was published in Mexico.)
>2. The dilemna of Eurocommunism. Labour Party of Great Britain (1980).
>
>There is no way of knowing whether the second book actually has this
>spelling or whether the record for it contains an error made by the
>cataloguer. That is, short of examining the book.
I checked the 2nd book in Melvyl, the on-line catalog of the University
of California, and the title is spelled correctly - "The dilemma of
Eurocommunism". I'm inclined to think that the cataloguer in the LC
made a spelling error.
The 1st book has the same entry in Melvyl as it does in the LC: "dilemna"
with a <sic>.
There are a few other entries (seven or so) with "dilemna", published in
Canada, US, and England (without a <sic>, strangely enough).
-Margaret
miku...@princeton.edu
Yair Friedman
|>
|> >What's interesting about dilemna is that it is oddly restricted to
|> >Canada; no one so far has indicated even a single example from South
|> >of the border.
Here are examples outside Canada.
From Mt.Scopus library:
Author RUDOY, DEAN WILLIAM
Title ARMED AND ALONE
Sub-tl THE AMERICAN SECURITY DILEMNA
Place NEW YORK
Pub. G.BRAZILLER
Year 1972
Pages 96P
Subject UNITED STATES-MILITARY POLICY
Author-a CITIZENS' HEARINGS ON NATIONAL SECURITY, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
1972
- COALITION ON NATIONAL PRIORITIES AND MILITARY POLICY
Year-f 1972
From Hebrew national library:
Author BULLIVANT, BRIAN MILTON
Title THE PLURALIST DILEMNA IN EDUCATION
Cont-tl SIX CASE STUDIES
Add info BRIAN M. BULLIVANT
Imprint SYDNEY : G.ALLEN & UNWIN
Year 1983,C1981
Note INCLUDES INDEX
Note-Bib BIBLIOGRAPHY: P.[245]-264
Dewey 371.98
I think this is a common typo. Since n is next to m on qwerty key keyboards this
sort of error is very reasonable. It is also hard to detect beacuse the letters
look very similar.
--
Yair Friedman.
ya...@cs.huji.ac.il
ya...@hujinix.BITNET
Roger Greenwald
>
[re "dilemna"]
>I think this is a common typo. Since n is next to m on qwerty key keyboards this
>sort of error is very reasonable. It is also hard to detect beacuse the letters
>look very similar.
Although I am not an expert in this area (there has been some interesting
research on typing and errors in typing), my view is that the proximity
of "m" and "n" on the keyboard would NOT lead to this error. Once
you have hit "m" once, you have no reason to move your finger, and no
way to "miss" the key. It is true that on a _computer_ keyboard,
if your finger landed so it depressed both keys, you might get "mn",
but you would know that you had only pressed down once, and when
you pressed again you would end up with "mnm". If the error were
one in which a single "n" were substituted for a single "m," then
it might be credible as a typo (e.g. "tane" for "tame" etc.).
It is well known, however, that all but the most highly skilled
typographers will substitute their own spellings of words they know
for different spellings of the same word--without being aware
that they are doing so. For example, an American typesetter keying
in a manuscript by a British author will have a hard time making
sure that he writes "colour" every time he encounters this word.
The probability is high that at least a few times he will write
"color." This has been a common problem in Norway, where many
variant spellings of certain words are "permitted" (officially),
where on occasion certain spellings have been "outlawed," and
where authors have varied as to which language reforms they have
adopted. Close examination of published texts reveals that in many
cases an author's spelling has been unwittingly changed by typesetters.
So far the evidence suggests that a certain number of library
cataloguers have simply had the wrong idea about how "dilemma"
is spelled. They may, of coure, have been influenced by a small
number of books in which "dilemna" actually appears on the title page.
>--
> Yair Friedman.
>ya...@cs.huji.ac.il
>ya...@hujinix.BITNET
Manfred Stede
>So far the evidence suggests that a certain number of library
>cataloguers have simply had the wrong idea about how "dilemma"
>is spelled. They may, of coure, have been influenced by a small
>number of books in which "dilemna" actually appears on the title page.
I might add that I have seen the following book in fact using the
'mn'-spelling (which is why the catalogue typist added the [sic]):
1. Ackerman, Robert W., 1938-
Corporate social responsiveness : the modern dilemna [sic] /
Reston, Va. : Reston Pub. Co., c1976.
Anybody in Virginia want to give Reston a call and inquire?
kyle@animal
Are your examples taken (as they appear to be) from computerized
library card catalogs? Or are they the titles as they appear on
the original publication?
Library catalog systems notoriously contain zillions of typos.