• pixelscript@lemm.ee
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      18 days ago

      It’s not like this superficially either. That’s literally what the word is.

      finite - to have a limit, be bounded

      The de- part is acting like it does in words like defraud. It’s not a negative, like you might see in detox, where it means to remove something or undo something. Instead, it simply insists something has been done, not unlike the suffix -ify. You’ve been defrauded. In a manner of speaking, you could say you’ve been “fraud-ified”.

      You could say something that has been defined has been “finite-ified”. The possibilities of what it could be were limitless, but you restricted them to something specific. You’ve made it finite. You’ve defined it. It is definite.

    • TheOakTree@lemm.ee
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      18 days ago

      I always told people “definitely is spelled like infinitely, so just remember how to spell infinite”

      But I suppose “finite” is even better than “infinite” since there’s less to remember.

      • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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        18 days ago

        It’s more that finite is easier because it has the long I sound at the beginning which clearly designates it as I. The short i sound in most English dialects is a middling kind of “ehh” sound that can be confused for an e a lot when sounding out a word. When I misspell definitely it’s because I spell it defenitely.

        • TheOakTree@lemm.ee
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          18 days ago

          My reasoning for why “infinite” would be easy to remember is because “infinity” is notably a word with only i as a main vowel (excluding the y)

          But I see what you mean too

          • Benaaasaaas@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            My reasoning is that infinite is pronounced like definite, unlike finite which is pronounced nothing like definite.

  • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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    18 days ago

    People online tell me that language is fluid and spelling is interpretive. Just let your reviewers know that if they mark anything!

    • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
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      18 days ago

      language is fluid and spelling is interpretive

      Said every dipshit American that can’t spell in their own native language 😂

      • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        Language is fluid, but standardised spellings are helpful for clarity and ease of reading.

        • GiveMemes@jlai.lu
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          18 days ago

          Anybody who’s every read a document written prior to the eighteenth century will tell you that people had a pretty “interpretive” way of spelling back in the day lol.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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            18 days ago

            The hallmark of a truly sophisticated language is the ability to express complex thoughts consistently and conscisely.

            And without so many unnecessary U’s.

  • socsa@piefed.social
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    18 days ago

    Me, writing an entire sentence describing process, rules and hierarchy within an organization so that I don’t have to try to spell the single word which describes this concept:

  • Dau (they/them)@lemmy.ca
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    17 days ago

    this is why i’m enjoying learning steno, if i forget how to spell a word i can usually just sound it out :^)

      • Dau (they/them)@lemmy.ca
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        17 days ago

        steno’s not just court, it’s still the easiest way to do live tv captioning and CART and such
        there’s also still a big hobbyist group around it, plover and hobbyist stenoboards have made it pretty easy to get into from that angle instead

        • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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          17 days ago

          Live tv captioning is a thing? Tho i get the hobbyist thing, just didn’t think of that.

          • Dau (they/them)@lemmy.ca
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            17 days ago

            yep! think news broadcasts and such, certain places have requirements on how much of live tv is captioned and to what accuracy to be accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing

            • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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              17 days ago

              Cool to know. Would’ve absolutely not thought there’s still a need of steno at all. Haven’t consumed any TV in the last 3 decades, so i might be really off the pulse of time :-)

  • BanjoShepard@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Assuming the error is with accidentally writing defiantly in lieu of definitely, I used to tell myself “There is definitely not an a in definitely.”

  • chickenf622@sh.itjust.works
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    18 days ago

    I always remember the phrase, “If you spell definitely with an ‘a’ you’re definitely an asshole”. Harsh, but it stuck in my head really well.