Dilemna Dilemma

[AB Editor]

Recently there was discussion by Simon Mayo & Mark Kermode on 5 Live.

In GB English is it Dilemna or Dilemma?

While it is of little concern to me, I wonder what the general consensus was on this? Also, is it a regional difference?

All the best,

Spare Ed

[mike11111]

Of course!

[Dris]

Im amazed (and sschh I even googled it).That is the way I was taught how to spell it. Found I certainly wasnt alone -millions use the'n' and its obviously wrong.Wonder how that came about-really puzzled now.

[Vicasso]

I had never encountered the 'mn' spelling prior to the Mayo/Kermode show

[AB Editor]

Thanks everyone.

Any ideas about the source of the N? Any bets on hand-writing mistake?

[NazNomad]

You're thinking of Autumn, aren't you? ;-P

[Quizmonster]

There is a separate WORD, lemNa, in modern Latin, meaning a kind of aquatic plant sometimes confused with duckweed. It is listed in Linnæus's 'Genera Plantarum'.

However, as already made clear above, it has naught to do with dilemma!

[jno]

so the only two people in the univrerse who think it could be 'dilemna' have actually been found together on the same programme on 5 Live?

What are the chances, eh?

[rowanwitch]

But has anyone seen a dilemma....apparently they have horns so are probably some sort of goat or antelope

[jno]

mind you, I'm the only person in the universe who knows about the univrerse, so I can talk.

[Marijn]

I've never heard of dilemna. Perhaps it's one of those regional words. For example, in Bristol people say "I've got a good IDEAL", but they really mean IDEA. But to us, it has a different meaning. I original thought my Bristol friend was just being stupid, but then I heard all his friends saying the same thing too.

[Quizmonster]

Apparently, in Bristol, there is a cameral obscural.

[Marijn]

What's that, Quizmonster?

[mollykins]

I always say and spell it dilemma, didn't know you could do it the other way.

[Marijn]

You can't do it the other way really. It's just a regional thing probably.

[jackthehat]

Mayo was born in Southgate, Kermode in Barnet...............I wonder if that has any bearing ?

[Quizmonster]

As you pointed out, Notafish, some Bristolians tend to put a letter 'l' after the final 'a' in words ending thus. Accordingly, for them, what the rest of us call a camera obscura is a cameral obscural. For information on what THAT is, click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura