Grammar Discussions

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Dispatch or despatch? I was always taught that it was dispatch prior to the event taking place and despatch post event - ie ‘I will dispatch it’ - ‘I have despatched it’ - thoughts of others?
 
Cruiser Elite said:
Dispatch or despatch? I was always taught that it was dispatch prior to the event taking place and despatch post event - ie ‘I will dispatch it’ - ‘I have despatched it’ - thoughts of others?
Click to expand...
Not my thoughts. I always use "dis".


The Green Book Authority says

"
The word comes into English in the early 1500s from Italian dispacciare, 'to send off with speed', although there were forms of the word in Spanish and Portuguese with des-.

The dis- spelling was the norm in English until Dr Johnson wrote his dictionary in 1755 and included the word as despatch. Since he himself used dispatch in his own writing and since all his sources that he used for the dictionary had the form dispatch, the theory is that this was a typographical error. From that moment on English has wavered over the correct spelling of this word."


To ‘dispatch’ or to ‘despatch’? - Macquarie

To dispatch or to despatch - that was the question from a dictionary user who had been taught at school that despatch was correct and dispatch was incorrect. Read more...
www.macquariedictionary.com.au
 
TheRealTMA said:
Not my thoughts. I always use "dis".


The Green Book Authority says

"
The word comes into English in the early 1500s from Italian dispacciare, 'to send off with speed', although there were forms of the word in Spanish and Portuguese with des-.

The dis- spelling was the norm in English until Dr Johnson wrote his dictionary in 1755 and included the word as despatch. Since he himself used dispatch in his own writing and since all his sources that he used for the dictionary had the form dispatch, the theory is that this was a typographical error. From that moment on English has wavered over the correct spelling of this word."


To ‘dispatch’ or to ‘despatch’? - Macquarie

To dispatch or to despatch - that was the question from a dictionary user who had been taught at school that despatch was correct and dispatch was incorrect. Read more...
www.macquariedictionary.com.au
Click to expand...
Americans use dispatch, and stress the first syllable, while Dr Johnson said despatch - in 1755 you say - which has been good enough for me for over half a century. I have no idea where the stress was placed in 1755, but my Australian version has more emphasis on the second syllable.

Also, that's the way I was taught to pronounce the word in this country by an eminent teacher in the sixties. Never dis.
 
Ekka said:
Americans use dispatch, and stress the first syllable, while Dr Johnson said despatch - in 1755 you say - which has been good enough for me for over half a century. I have no idea where the stress was placed in 1755, but my Australian version has more emphasis on the second syllable.

Also, that's the way I was taught to pronounce the word in this country by an eminent teacher in the sixties. Never dis.
Click to expand...
One could "desagree" here I suppose. :) :)

Ngram can be interesting in such cases.

Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google Ngrams: despatch, dispatch, 1800-2019
books.google.com
 
Ekka said:
Most amusing.
Click to expand...
And remember that "despacito" in spanish essantially means "slowly". Which I find somwhat amusing in this day and age for the use of "despatch". :)

edit: There's a very famous Spanish / crossover Latino song called "Despacito".

"The “Despacito” phenomenon is unparalleled. It took the music industry by surprise – who would’ve thought a Luis Fonsi song would become such a mainstream, crossover, global hit? The song was released on January 12, 2017, and the Latine music industry has never been the same since."
 
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Now, going to the source of all knowledge in the world, I asked "hey Siri .... how do you spell "dspatch" and she categorically spelled it "dispatch". And MS Word using English (Australia) dictionary accepted both spellings.

Not sure what that tells me???
 

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