Why do so many people here spell "lens" wrongly?

[davej]

95Probite wrote:

"Wrongly" may be a word, but the way he used it in his sentence is WRONG!!"

Cambridge Dictionaries approve both "wrong" and "wrongly" in this context:

"He even spelled his own client's name wrongly/wrong."

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/defi...1770&dict=CALD

As for "lens", the derivation is the Latin word "lens", meaning lentil. The plural has to be "lenses", because "lenss" would be silly. My guess is that "lense" appeared as a back-formation from "lenses".

None of which helps me take better photographs!

[Tom LaPrise]

Going the other way, I've seen people refer to only one of them as a "len."

[Setiprime]

Kinda like "dice" and "die" plural and singular.

Brits = grey
Yanks - gray

Brits = centre
Yanks = center

Maybe we should go back to Latin !

[perdendosi]

My favorite reference book, the Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, by Bryan Garner, describes "Lens" like this:



Lens. so spelled--not lense. But the misspelling occurs fairly often, as something like a back-formation from the plural--e.g. "Raunchy Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez--who got her nickname after wearing a condom over one lense [read lens] of her glasses--makes no apologies for her behaviour" (Daily Record).

For anyone "wordly" inclined the book is a great resources for usage, style, and grammar. Even though it is a book of American usage, it often compares the British and American usage and spelling for many entries. There are also tons of little "mini-rants" that Garner (who is most famous for being the current editor of Black's Law Dictionary) goes on. One of my favorites:

[After going on for almost a full page about the word "hopefully" and tracing its correct usage ("John hopefully waited for the love letter") and comparing its now-improper usage ("Hopefully, I will win the game") Garner finishes the entry with a seemingly despairing sigh:]

[T]hough the controversy swirling around this word has subsided, it is now a skunked term. Avoid it in all senses if you're concerned with your credibility: if you use it in the traditional way, many readers will think it odd; if you use it in the newish way, a few readers will tacitly tut-tut you.

What a great book (okay, maybe I'm too much of a grammar geek)!

Man...this is hurting my head & that is incorrect!

[Manolito_Mystiq]

color <-> colour :?

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"theater <-> theatre

Oh, and common words spelled wrong:

definitely -> definately :evil:

(I could have)/(I could've) -> I could of :?(YUCK!)

You're -> your

They're -> their

et cetera et cetera et cetera

[frontier02]

Setiprime wrote:

Kinda like "dice" and "die" plural and singular.

Brits = grey
Yanks - gray

Brits = centre
Yanks = center

Maybe we should go back to Latin !

Let's add color vs colour.

[Monza76]

see http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...amp;forum_id=2

Ira

[UrbanPhotos]

Tom LaPrise wrote:

Going the other way, I've seen people refer to only one of them as a "len."

Yep, and I've seen multiples referred to as "len's". That would be wrong even if "len" was correct, since it's not correct to add an apostrophe when pluarlizing (even though the majority of people on the internet seem to think it is).

[Monza76]

UrbanPhotos wrote:

Yep, and I've seen multiples referred to as "len's". That would be wrong even if "len" was correct, since it's not correct to add an apostrophe when pluarlizing (even though the majority of people on the internet seem to think it is).

Isn't that spelled pluralizing, or have I spelled it wrongly, oops I think I just dropped a contact len...no len's...no lends...sorry lense...or is it lens. :lol: