Dilemma vs. Dilemna

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Tom Stillwell in Phoenix, Arizona.

Hiya, Tom.

Hi, Tom. What’s going on?

Well, not much. I’m very excited, actually, to speak with you.

Well, we are, too.

I was driving in Indianapolis and took the announcer’s advice and repeated a question that I’ve asked people for the last, I guess, 30 years, no, 35 years, and has to do with a spelling bee that I lost back when I was in seventh grade.

Oh, boy, that can be traumatic, huh?

Well, especially so when you’re absolutely sure that your spelling of the word is correct.

Yes, yes.

And since then, I’ve asked many, many people how to spell the word, and I would say a very significant number of them spell it the way that I did, and I wondered why in the world it is that so many of us were taught wrong.

Oh.

So you’re still bitter.

You’re still bitter.

I think I’ve gotten over the bitterness.

And in fact, knowing that I was going to be talking about this on your show caused me to do a little Google searching.

And I feel absolutely exonerated.

You do?

I do.

This is discussed on blogs all over the place.

I had no idea.

I’d sort of let go of it, actually, after about five or ten years.

So there’s a whole online support group for people like you?

You could say that.

You could say that.

Wow.

What in the world is the word?

And there’s even a clever phrase to describe it.

It is the dilemma dilemma.

Dilemma.

D-I-O-H-O?

How did you spell it?

I spelled it D-I-L-E-M-N-A.

M-N-A?

M-N-A.

And the bell rang, and I had a shocked look on my face.

And I sat down.

And, in fact, I knew every other word that went all the way through the championship, so I actually am thinking about asking for a recount.

Oh, I don’t know if that’s how it works, but good luck.

Perhaps not, but apparently, although not documented in either the OED or in any official dictionary, it is very, very commonly spelled that way by people both in England and in the U.S.

Somewhere along the line, someone was teaching a whole bunch of us that there was a silent N in the word dilemma.

I have to say I’ve never seen that spelling nor heard of it.

I have to confess the same.

I’m sorry, Tom.

Yeah, it’s interesting.

And those who think that it’s spelled that way are absolutely just shocked when you tell them that it’s not.

So this is subliminal?

I don’t think so.

I suspect that it actually had, apparently, the change of the spelling to always be MMA, from one source at least, said that it started to occur in earnest in the late 60s or early 70s, which would have been when I was in grade school.

And I suspect that there was just a widespread misspelling of it in some sort of literature that hasn’t been documented, and a lot of teachers went out there spelling it that way.

I don’t know how else to explain it with people all over the place.

Well, it was the 60s, right?

It was the 60s.

And as Robin Williams says, if you can remember it, you weren’t there.

Here’s what I’m saying while you’re talking.

I was just doing a bit of looking in some historical text.

And I do see now that the D-I-L-E-M-N-A spelling was very common in the 1800s and even a little bit into the early 1900s.

But you’re not that old.

I’m not that old, but I was reading a lot of encyclopedias when I was a kid.

I think there’s some historical evidence for it, but you’re right.

I see none of the dictionaries that I have here at my disposal.

None of them have the spelling with the N in it.

Well, Tom, you sound kind of, I don’t know, obsessed about this.

I wasn’t until I heard your show and it stirred it up again.

Well, I hope that this has helped at least a little.

It’s been therapeutic.

You’ve got to unburden yourself after 30-plus years.

Exactly.

Well, thanks a lot for calling, Tom.

I hope you feel better.

I’ve enjoyed it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye now.

What do you bet we’re going to get calls about the use of the word dilemma as a problem rather than a choice between two things?

We’re going to hear from sticklers about that.

I know it.

And you can call us about it at 1-877-929-9673 or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.