Words

[rhienelleth]

Wait, so obstinant isn't actually a word (yet)? It's obstinate?

Really?

But I've always said "obstinant". It looks wrong on the page any other way.

Fellow writer people out there, how would you handle this? It's apparently widely used with the 'n' in there, at least verbally.

*I am only posting from Semagic, and will only be seeing comments in e-mail for now, to avoid my current LJ issues. I've updated my support request to include the new stuff, and we'll see if anyone gets back to me*

Comments

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

It's definitely obstinate. The root (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obstinate?r=75) is clear. People may pronounce it incorrectly, but there's really no 'wiggle room' with regard to the proper spelling.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Ah, well. I'm sually really good at spelling, and it's not like Word's spellchecker is always reliable.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

It's a hard one because -ant or -ent feels like a more common ending to an adjective than -ate.

[morwen_peredhil]

Obstinate. I've never even seen (or heard) "obstinant" before this. (I'm a copy editor/proofreader.)

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Well, you would definitely know! I'm just flabbergasted I've gone all this time without knowing this. I wonder how often I've spelled it totally wrong.

[morwen_peredhil]

I do this for a living and still learn at least one new thing about the English language every time I work on a book.

I love my language even though it's crazy. :D

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Probably not in written, but spoken... this is referred to as a nasal drift. Don't worry, tissues not required. If you feel the way "obstinate" and "obstinant" end with your toungue pressed just above the palette rise behind your teeth---you will see (heh, hear) the only thing that is difference is the nasal aspiration. "Obstinate" is spoken fully through the mouth, "obstinant" is either partially, or completely end-aspirated through the nose.

Ain't yo' fault main, it's how you be speakin'.

[frenchroast.livejournal.com]

I'd spell it the way it's supposed to be spelled--after all, plenty of English words are spelled quite differently from how you'd expect them to be based on how they sound. Our alphabet is far from phonetic.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Very true!

[kayjayuu.livejournal.com]

Who the-- what? It's not a word?

...

Okay, looking it up, I think we (read: ME) get confused by the word "obstinance" and extrapolate from there. I've never once used (or heard used) "obstinate".

Like you I can't believe I've been wrong for forty-some-odd years.

Wow.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

YES - exactly! I have never heard it said as "obstinate", but some further looking around online indicates that words like obstinate often end up with an "n" added in there, pronunciation-wise, and that they have even occasionally made it into the dictionary as actual words. Sadly (to me) obstinant is not yet one of them.

"...several English words have been altered in this way: nightigale > nightingale, passager > passenger, messager > messenger, etc...."

Huh. Very interesting...

*Edited because today, apparently, I FAIL at spelling and typos*