1. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    Leaped vs Leapt?

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by Smoke, Mar 27, 2011.

    Something in my brain doesn't like the long E of leaped. Is there a spelling that makes it clear that I'm rhyming with swept?
     
  2. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    Well, use leapt then. :p

    I don't know if you're British or not - we use "t" instead of "ed" a lot more than Americans. I don't know what the rules are over there, because here I'm free to use that spelling so don't care. :p
     
  3. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    Okay, I got confused because the default spell-checker doesn't like it, and I thought it wasn't a real word.

    Considering that part of the audience is European... :D
     
  4. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    Neither leaped nor leapt flag my spellchecker? I'm American, leapt is a word... LOL
     
  5. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    All I know is an American spelling-nazi friend keeps correcting me, and I always respond with, "But it was spelt right!" :p
     
  6. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    LOL...spelt is spelled wrong :p
     
  7. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    Just for the record I referred to my dictionary for both spellings, and it assured me I was right. :p
     
  8. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    Okay, okay...I can use it for it things like "It surely spelt disaster!" but not "That is spelt wrong." To be honest though, they both look really wrong to me :p
     
  9. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    Funny, I'd say "spelled disaster" but it's definitely "spelt wrong" when it comes out my mouth. I think there's a difference between using it in the middle of a sentence, and making it the focus of the sentence. "spelled disaster" is a common phrase, while just throwing it into the middle of a sentence it can be shorter, because no one is looking for it.
     
  10. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    LOL, I guess that's part of why we're so different, language wise? That seems so wrong to me :D
     
  11. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    English dictionary definitions...

    Shudder : to shake or tremble uncontrollably from a reaction such as cold, fear, or disgust

    Shutter : to close or protect something by means of shutters
     
  12. barnz

    barnz New Member

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    I came into this forum with the intent of asking the same question, I'm glad someone beat me to it! I always want to use leapt but my word processor gets upset.
     
  13. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    btw, 'spelt' is also a variety of european wheat...
     
  14. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Please do not make derogatory generalizations about nations or cultures.

    (posts deleted)
     
  15. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    It's not! British people make plenty of crazy errors too, but the American accent has a blurring between t and d, and in spelling, it shows. I just find it cute. I AM half-American and often quite proud of it despite living in Englandland most of my life - I'm just makin' a social observation about the quirks of language. Like it's equally unoffensive to say I like how some countries they type laughter like, "ja ja ja" because of the different letter sounds.

    I just can't think of any peculiarly British misspellings because I'm so surrounded by them I wouldn't know where to start and which ones don't show up in American writing.
     
  16. lostinwebspace

    lostinwebspace Active Member

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    Merriam-Webster says they're both acceptable. For myself, I always use whatever is the acceptable version and, for words where both forms are acceptable, I try to stick to the same logic. What I mean is this: the past form of "spell" is "spelled," the past tense of "dream" is "dreamed," therefore I use the past tense of "leap" as "leaped." I have no choice for words such as "creep" and "sweep" since the past tenses both have a "-t" suffix, no "-ed" suffix. They're irregular verbs.

    This is, of course, American, so the British might have a different way.

    Whatever you use, though, be consistent. You don't want to use "leapt" and then, four pages later, use "leaped." That's a deal-breaker.
     

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