Word Choice

The following is a sad tale of when spell check doesn't work...

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a random blog. That's not something I do often, but every once in a while I catch a few stray words from an individual I don't know.

As I was reading, a particular habit of the blogger bothered me. She really liked the word, "definitely" but instead of spelling it correctly, she kept writing, "defiantly."

"That is defiantly the case."

"I defiantly agree."

"You can defiantly say that again."

It really changed the entire feel of the sentence. I wondered if perhaps she actually meant "defiantly." I came to the conclusion that she just had a spelling issue.

The blog problem made me think about word choice, and how imperative it is to choose your words wisely. Do you say "old" when what you really mean is "antique?" Do you say "something smells" when you want to convey that there's a "mouth-watering aroma?"

This is where having a writers group is invaluable. If Blogger Chick had someone say, "Hey, you're spelling definitely wrong..." she could have fixed the problem before it even started. In my current WIP, I can't tell you how many times a member of my group has mentioned that I'm not quite expressing what I want.

So the moral of the story is this. Definitely is spelled D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y.

That mistake is a defiant no no!