New York, New York
Jul. 5th, 2010 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaSo, today I was reminded that I don't know what the word "synedoche" means (yes, since you ask, I was reading XKCD). I've looked up synedoche many times, yet can never remember what the wretched thing means.
So, over I go Wikipedia. A dictionary would probably have been better, but my fingers automatically go to Wikipedia for virtually any answer these days.
In the little search box, I type "synedoche".
Back come the results... "Did you mean: synecdoche".
Did I mean synecdoche? No, of course I didn't, that's not a word.
Except a little further searching suggests it really is a word. And, what's more, it's the one I was looking for. I am 100% confident that the first 'c' has never been there before. I've certainly never known it was there, and - as we've already established - I've looked this word up a lot of times.
I can only assume that some foul-tempered script kiddie has carefully replaced all instances of the word on the internet with this new misspelled version. If I get home and find that my trusty hard-backed Oxford dictionary has the rogue extra 'c' in the word too, I shall know that goblins have been employed.
So, over I go Wikipedia. A dictionary would probably have been better, but my fingers automatically go to Wikipedia for virtually any answer these days.
In the little search box, I type "synedoche".
Back come the results... "Did you mean: synecdoche".
Did I mean synecdoche? No, of course I didn't, that's not a word.
Except a little further searching suggests it really is a word. And, what's more, it's the one I was looking for. I am 100% confident that the first 'c' has never been there before. I've certainly never known it was there, and - as we've already established - I've looked this word up a lot of times.
I can only assume that some foul-tempered script kiddie has carefully replaced all instances of the word on the internet with this new misspelled version. If I get home and find that my trusty hard-backed Oxford dictionary has the rogue extra 'c' in the word too, I shall know that goblins have been employed.
