Anybody else ever have a "dilemna"?

Not so much a word mechanics question as one of simple curiosity. I was raised in the '70s/'80s American midwest, went to a pretty good school, and was a very good speller (2nd place school spelling bee twice, lost to my best friend both times), and I swear I was taught that the word "dilemma" was spelled "dilemna".

I now know this is incorrect, and that I'm not the only one. So, anybody else recall this? Anyone else have any theories on why it happened?

 

I can't recall that particular one, but my son has a unique ability to misspell words so convincingly that it leaves you doubting the correct spelling. (Anyone like to think of a superpower name for this?)

The school he was at issued a little booklet on HOW TO SPELL...with at least two spelling errors...

 

I know that's how I used to spell it. I think it was that Nelly and Kelly Rowland song that set me straight.

One of the explanations on this site (http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/85377/dilemma-vs-dilemna) makes me most sense to me:

 

That song taught me the word 'dilemma'.

 

I have never come across that spelling, dilemna.

What's next... columna?

My favorite time of the year is, Autumna.

 

I must have missed the dilemna zones in my disjointed, hither, thither and yon education. I can only assume hypercorrection to a perceived, but incorrect, Latin root. The origin of the word is Greek, not Latin. In the never-ending love/hate relationship the Brits have with the French, when they decided to decorate the Queen's English with the Gallic U (honour, favour, valour), more than a few words that were never of French origin, but which seemed to be, were also granted a U to "re-Frankify" them. The word neighbor, for instance, is a jolly Old English word that has pip to do with the French, and yet when you cross the pond they jam a U into it like an un-asked-for baguette. These things happen.

 

Yes.

 

I don't know the validity of this, but I read, a few moon cycles ago, that this came about as a result of a long term circulated mistake in a dictionary.

I'll see if I can find a source when I'm at my computer.

Like I said, don't crucify me if this isn't true, maybe it was bogus, maybe I'm remembering incorrectly.

 

YES! Oh gosh, I thought it was just me! I could have sworn it was spelled with an 'n'... one day when occasional called for me to spell the word, a friend looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head and said, "there's no 'n'." And when I went to look in the dictionary .... whaddyaknow, no 'n.' So how did that happen? I still to this day have no idea why believed for the majority of my life that it was spelled 'dilemna'.

 

I nearly fell off my seat when I found out forty was spelled without a u.

Four
Fourteen
Fourty

Made sense to me. Native english speaker. Accountant. Wrong as wrong can be.

 

Reminds me of this:

 

This is the first time I've ever heard this. My respect for French just dropped.

 

I had a dilenema once.

 

You are from an alternate universe


I think you are confusing the word with something closely related and then getting stuck on the bias you have to go with your gut
Totally normal

 

~Slow clap~

Very good sir, very good.

 

That’s quite a pickle you were in...

...or vice-versa...

 

I don't know who started making terrible enema puns, but I promise I will get to the bottom of it.