this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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Science Memes

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definitely (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 82 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

it’s the word “finite” with de- in the beginning and -ly at the end. That’s how I remember.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's actually helpful. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Also helps to think of the word "definitely" as meaning "by definition"

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah i don't know to spell defenition

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Did you mean "defenestration"?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

That helps, but it doesn't help me remember if it's "definitely", "definitley", or "definitly".

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's not like this superficially either. That's literally what the word is.

finite - to have a limit, be bounded

The de- part is acting like it does in words like defraud. It's not a negative, like you might see in detox, where it means to remove something or undo something. Instead, it simply insists something has been done, not unlike the suffix -ify. You've been defrauded. In a manner of speaking, you could say you've been "fraud-ified".

You could say something that has been defined has been "finite-ified". The possibilities of what it could be were limitless, but you restricted them to something specific. You've made it finite. You've defined it. It is definite.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Is it fin-it or fine-ite

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I always told people "definitely is spelled like infinitely, so just remember how to spell infinite"

But I suppose "finite" is even better than "infinite" since there's less to remember.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's more that finite is easier because it has the long I sound at the beginning which clearly designates it as I. The short i sound in most English dialects is a middling kind of "ehh" sound that can be confused for an e a lot when sounding out a word. When I misspell definitely it's because I spell it defenitely.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My reasoning for why "infinite" would be easy to remember is because "infinity" is notably a word with only i as a main vowel (excluding the y)

But I see what you mean too

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

My reasoning is that infinite is pronounced like definite, unlike finite which is pronounced nothing like definite.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Defiantly going to remember how to spell it now!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

It also works for ‘infinitely’

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Indefiantly? 🤔😅