Science Memes @mander.xyz fossilesque @mander.xyz 3 wk. ago

definitely

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it’s the word “finite” with de- in the beginning and -ly at the end. That’s how I remember.
- That's actually helpful. Thanks.
  
  Also helps to think of the word "definitely" as meaning "by definition"
- 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.
  
  Is it fin-it or fine-ite
- Defiantly going to remember how to spell it now!
  
  It also works for ‘infinitely’
- 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.
  
  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.
People online tell me that language is fluid and spelling is interpretive. Just let your reviewers know that if they mark anything!
- language is fluid and spelling is interpretive
  
  Said every dipshit American that can't spell in their own native language 😂
  
  Language is fluid, but standardised spellings are helpful for clarity and ease of reading.
  
  Yeah it's totally only an American thing 🙄
relevant xkcd
- Defentanily
- Pregante
i hope i never have to write beruacracy in an academic context
- I can tell.
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:
Conventions of English be damned, I spell it defiantly.
- You sure do.
Definitively definite defined definition.
I always fuck up guarantee, I tend to spell it "guerantee".
- garant-y
  
  ping
this is why i'm enjoying learning steno, if i forget how to spell a word i can usually just sound it out :^)
- This is still a thing? Where? Why?
  
  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
It's rreeccoommeenndd and so many others for me ...
- Occourrance
  
  Occassionnaly
- "Commend" is not as difficult for me so I just remember it as re-commend
  
  Oohh, I'll try to remember thqt, thanks!
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."
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.
Can you do “effect” versus “affect” for me?
- That one's easy. That's discreet vs. discrete tier stuff. Get me some of that say your piece / peace stuff, awwww yeah—I'm defiantly good at grammer.
- Effect is a vErb.
  
  Affect is a nAhn.
I did enjoy the glut of people online defiantly doing very mundane things
De-finite-ly
I defiantly agree that you need a doctorate degree to type that word.
Necessary and necessarily for me. Can't spell 'em to save my life.

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