Pick out the correctly spelt workd:

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a: dispensable
b. despensable
c.dispensible
d. despencible.
e. none of these.

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Type: Question • Score: 0 • Views: 403 • Replies: 37

[+2] - Merry Andrew - 06/20/2009Well, let's see. Inasmuch as the poster uses the word "spelt", we must perforce assume that the poster is British or from one of the Commonwealth countries which adhere to British...
[+2] - Merry Andrew - 06/20/2009Good catch, JTT. I dunno. What [i]is[/i] the right word? 'Fatfingers' comes to mind. So does the phrase 'mental disconnect.'
[+2] - dadpad - 06/21/2009[quote="JTT"] [quote]Well, let's see. Inasmuch as the poster uses the word "spelt", we must perforce assume that the poster is British or from one of the Commonwealth countries...
[+2] - Merry Andrew - 06/21/2009[quote] Flammable now has certain technical uses, particularly as a warning on vehicles carrying combustible materials, because of a belief that some might interpret the intensive prefix in- of...
[+2] - Merry Andrew - 06/21/2009[quote]But cf. words like incur, infuse, insurrection, instigate, imbibe, enthuse, insert... if you want to think more about it. These prefixes do not indicate a negative. [/quote] But the 'in-'...
[+2] - Joeblow - 06/23/2009Iâ��m with MA. Itâ��s an irksome and silly word. Why, itâ��s downright puttinâ�� on airs. Though I must admit I loathe it slightly less after reading JTTâ��s...
[+2] - solipsister - 06/24/2009the slip up is parapraxis or freudian slip always enjoy your posts btw
[+2] - Merry Andrew - 06/24/2009[quote]the slip up is parapraxis or freudian slip[/quote] Parapraxis!! What a great word. I'll remember that.
[+1] - contrex - 06/20/2009Well, "workd" in your title is certainly wrong! Do you have access to a dictionary? Your teacher almost certainly intends you to use one, so that you may learn a skill that you will not...
[+1] - solipsister - 06/20/2009an indispensible skill

Well, "workd" in your title is certainly wrong! Do you have access to a dictionary? Your teacher almost certainly intends you to use one, so that you may learn a skill that you will not get if we answer your question.

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@contrex,

an indispensible skill

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@solipsister,

solipsister wrote:

an indispensible skill

Indeed.

0 Replies

You'll see dispensible and dispensable: I'm not sure the second one is actually wrong, just less common and an alternative.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Many dictionaries state that "dispensible" is an obsolete spelling and that "dispensable" is the modern spelling.

1 Reply

@contrex,

I don't like it: but then I'm not very modern, I suppose.

1 Reply

@McTag,

No more am I.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Since "dispensible" and "dispensable" are both acceptable spellings, whoever drew up that multiple choice question is a lousy teacher, assuming that the question is meant to be "Pick out the correctly spelt word:"

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Well, let's see. Inasmuch as the poster uses the word "spelt", we must perforce assume that the poster is British or from one of the Commonwealth countries which adhere to British useage. Were the poster a Yank, his/her teacher would have insisted that the word be spelled correctly, at least according to accepted American useage. This being the case, we may further assume that the spelling being saught is "indispensible" as it is more commonly British. "Indispensable" is the generally preferred American spelling.

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@Merry Andrew,

Quote:

Well, let's see. Inasmuch as the poster uses the word "spelt", we must perforce assume that the poster is British or from one of the Commonwealth countries which adhere to British useage. Were the poster a Yank, his/her teacher would have insisted that the word be spelled correctly, at least according to accepted American useage. This being the case, we may further assume that the spelling being saught is "indispensible" as it is more commonly British. "Indispensable" is the generally preferred American spelling.

What's the term for a situation where someone screams that things be done correctly then slips up?

3 Replies

@contrex,

Quote:

Your teacher almost certainly intends you to use one, so that you may learn a skill that you will not get if we answer your question.

I suspect that Sreeja has learned a whole bunch more by asking here than by simply going to a dictionary, a task that he or she most assuredly already knew how to do.

0 Replies

@JTT,

Good catch, JTT. I dunno. What is the right word? 'Fatfingers' comes to mind. So does the phrase 'mental disconnect.'

1 Reply

@Merry Andrew,

I realize how it happened, Merry and it's come up before. I think that there should be a special term for this, but damn if I know what it might be.

0 Replies

American spellings ptooey.

These are the people who could not understand "inflammable" and invented "non-flam" instead.

Wink

1 Reply

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Quote:
Well, let's see. Inasmuch as the poster uses the word "spelt", we must perforce assume that the poster is British or from one of the Commonwealth countries which adhere to British useage. Were the poster a Yank, his/her teacher would have insisted that the word be spelled correctly, at least according to accepted American useage. This being the case, we may further assume that the spelling being saught is "indispensible" as it is more commonly British. "Indispensable" is the generally preferred American spelling.

What's the term for a situation where someone screams that things be done correctly then slips up?

Clarm...????

1 Reply

@McTag,

Inflammable is a bloody ridiculous word! How does it differ from the simple flammable?

1 Reply

@dadpad,

Quote:

Clarm...????

Excellent choice!

0 Replies

@Merry Andrew,

Merry Andrew wrote:

Inflammable is a bloody ridiculous word! How does it differ from the simple flammable?

Inflammable and flammable both mean “combustible.” Inflammable is the older by about 200 years. Flammable now has certain technical uses, particularly as a warning on vehicles carrying combustible materials, because of a belief that some might interpret the intensive prefix in- of inflammable as a negative prefix and thus think the word means “noncombustible.” Inflammable is the word more usually used in nontechnical and figurative contexts: The speaker ignited the inflammable emotions of the crowd.

2 Replies

@dadpad,

The way I heard it, Americans could not understand "inflammable" and particularly in the military, got confused.

So they invented "flam" and "non-flam" descriptors which have the advantage at least of being clear (and the disadvantage of being less literate)

I'm not trying to inflame your passions, btw. Maybe just a bit. Wink

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Pick out the correctly spelt workd:

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