I'm going public. That is, I'm posting my question in a public poll, in LJ. Since it's been posted publically, you can vote (and comment) even if you don't have an LJ. [link]

Huh. I have no problem with "problematic" and "problematically".

So much for logic.

(edited because typos are particularly confusing in a discussion about spelling)

See, this is what I'm saying. It's English. You can't pay the rules too much mind. It'll make you crazy.

But "publically" is just not what I learned. So. Guess I should go vote.

-t, you know I'm just goofing off, right?

Yes, Cindy. It's just making me a little thinky, not in a bad way.

Though the evidence is mounting that I am, in fact, what is wrong with the world.

There's strength in numbers, -t. You wrong ones are way ahead in my LJ.

You ladies are looking for logic in English. That's illogical.

Makes you wonder how Vulcans would learn English.

Spock: "So, Captain...it's "'i' before 'e', except after 'c', and in words that sound like 'ay' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'."

Kirk: "You've got it, Spock."

Spock: "What about 'weird'?"

Kirk: "You just remember that ''i' before 'e'' doesn't apply because 'weird' is weird."

Spock: "...all right. Now is it 'publicly' or 'publically'?"

Kirk: "Yes."

Spock: (head explodes)

Bones: "He's fucked, Jim."

When I was about 8 or so, I would misread the word "pubic" as "public." So I'd be confused about references to "public hair," as I figured that public hair was the least public that hair could be.

There's a parking lot in Bethesda, MD whose sign read "Pub ic Parking" the entire time I was growing up. It was repaired a few years ago, but everyone (in my family anyway, because we're stubborn like that) still calls it Pubic Parking.

Dammit, Jim. I'm a doctor, not an English teacher.