who nicked the "d"?

[Martin]

the word is longDitude - it was when I first learn about it, way back in the dark ages - it always was longDitude, ever since it was invented - why oh why have some plonkers decided to remove the first "D"?.........
Is it another creeping Americanism (like Martha Kearney pronouncing Dahlia as dar-lee-ahh when referring to some ghastly American film)

[Muddypause]

Sorry Martin; I have never seen it as 'longditude', but I do remember my school maths teacher raising the point that it is usually mispronounced, and that it should have a flat 'n' followed by a soft 'g' - as in 'lon-ji-tude'. Many of the following agree with him, though some reference is also made to the more usual long-gi-tude:

Chambers Dictionary (1998): longitude lon-ji-tüd or long'gi-
Penguin Hutchinson (1996): longitude lonjityoohd, long-gityoohd
Skeat's Concise Etymology (1994): longitude
Longman Crossword Key (1992): longitude
Universal English Dictionary (circ. 1970): Longitude lon'ji-tüd
Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1934): longitude -j-
Technological & Scientific Dictionary (1906): Longitude
Nuttall's Standard Dictionary (1894): Longitude lon'-je-tewd
Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary (1857): Longitude lon'-je-tude
(That's as far back as my dictionaries go, but I think they probably pre-date you, by here).

I can't find a single dictionary reference showing it with an extra 'd', though Google does find 644 web pages with that spelling, compared to 66,200,000 with it spelled without the 'd'.

So, anything else you like to talk about - maybe the missing capitals in your posts??

[Wombat]

Gotta tell you that it is the first time I've heard about a D, but that may just be due to an impoversihed (and antipodean) upbringing........

Nev

[Rough Jack]

Gidday

Well my spelling is so bad I wopuldn't know which was which even if I had written it myselfe.

[Millymollymandy]

impoversihed
Nev

Nev don't you know how to spell ISH yet?

I've never heard of a D either!

[Shirley]

impoversihed
Nev

Nev don't you know how to spell ISH yet?

:kermit:

I hadn't heard of a d in it either.

[Martin]

in that case, I'll go and watch a program in color!
(I do get rather sick of Google and it's Americanisms - type in "programme", and it comes back "don't you mean "program" -no I don't!)

[Rough Jack]

Gidday

Well bugger me dead. Everybodies checking everybodies spellin and typin.

Funny thing I just checked my old pocket Oxford and found that it was longitude.

OOOps.

[Martin]

I could be wrong, it just seemed that suddenly there was a "new" spelling of a word, and wondered if it was yet another one that had been Americanised, or had been altered in recenty years. So much changes, - I'm no longer allowed to refer to "actresses", or to call someone a "lady" - and wince-makingly awful grammatical errors are now accepted.
I was thinking of placing a bouquet of dar-leeahs on Boo-Dicker's grave, but thought better of it!

[Shirley]

So much changes, - I'm no longer allowed to refer to "actresses", or to call someone a "lady" - and wince-makingly awful grammatical errors are now accepted.
I was thinking of placing a bouquet of dar-leeahs on Boo-Dicker's grave, but thought better of it!

HAHAHAHAHA - so funny!!!!

We are having this discussion at the moment... David speaks rather poshly like... and I've got a northern accent.... he says gararje and I say garidge (garage) - he says Barth, I say Bath.... I know this is just down to accents but he's adamant that our son should pronounce in his accent.... and that mine is wrong. AAARGHHHHH

It must be about the sicth time we've discussed it LOL...

[Millymollymandy]

So whatever did happen to the name Boadicea (Bo-diss-ear) as we learnt in school? I don't understand the name change there. Anyone enlighten me?

Martin - I get 649 matches on Googling longDitude - so you are not alone!

[Boots]

What has happened with the title Lady, then? Is it no more? I think there was something with Sir Joh's wife being wrongly called a Lady over here... but I can't remember what it was now. We all still refer to her as Lady Flo, but apparently the title was improper or misrepresentative or something.

Isn't that what they gave Camilla??? I am sure I remember thinking, "That mate, is NO LADY." A lady does NOT backdoor a sister. She prolly wrecked it for everyone...

There is only one thing more annoying than a "Hey Lady!" when a bloke wants something, and that is an "Oi Miss!!!"

I have to bite my tongue and not respond with a sarcastically seasoned "What Master?"

[Paddy's mum]

Afternoon all. Like Martin, I was taught that the word was longditude.

One of my most treasured possessions is the 1950 Oxford Dictionary which was left to me by my late grandfather. There the word is given without a middle d. It goes on to say that the word comes from the Latin root word 'longis' = long, length.

The Royal Observatory, on its website, spells it without a middle d and as the home of the Greenwich Meridien, I guess they should know!

Perhaps it's one of those words like neither that can be pronounced in more than one way and yet still be correct.

[Martin]

thank heavens! - I'm sure that's what I was taught at school in the 60's, and during my Yachtmaster's course in the 70's!
And if you consider the word "longditudinal" - that "sounds right" - the shortened version just doesn't!

[Paddy's mum]

I have heard two different theories for the change of name from Boadicea to Boudica.

One is that the name was recorded in letters to Rome by an historian who, for want of a better word, 'romanised' the name and this spelling/pronunciation endured for centuries.

The second approach is that the name's Celtic language root was resurrected and the native pronunciation took precedence.

Don't know (and probably never will) which, if either, is the correct interpretation. Either way, she was quite a woman!