The Dilemma Dilemna
dd January 6th, 2007
So, at my wife’s birthday gathering last night (which I’m proud to say I orchestrated quite well), someone gifted her with the book, “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”. So, naturally, the discussion turned to common grammar gotchas. Then, one of the partygoers, L.M., posed a spelling question. “How do you spell dilemma/dilemna?” Her curiosity had been piqued when she ran across it spelled “dilemma” and thought that was dead wrong. But, it turns out that officially per all dictionaries that anyone has consulted, that the “correct” spelling is “dilemma”. As a previous spelling bee champ, she was flummoxed by this discovery. Well, out of the eight of us gathered in our living room, three of us (moi included) were taught to spell the word “dilemna”. Until last night, I would have sworn on a stack of bibles ( of whatever religious persuasion) that there is exactly one ‘n’ and one ‘m’. The three of us went to school in New York City, Chicago and Detroit respectively.
And, the story gets more interesting. If you check out this humongous blog thread, you’ll learn that this is a conundrum (I suppose I could have said dilemna but resisted) not just in the U.S., but all over the English speaking world. There’s a certain segment of folks that either grew up in an alternative universe or are part of some cosmic spelling experiment who learned the “one n, one m” spelling. These people include authors, media columnists and crossword puzzle creators.
Here are a few interesting excerpts from the aforementioned blog post:
- “Dilemma is a simple compound of Greek origin, meaning literally two (di) and arguments (lemma).. Quite literally, it means to be caught between the two horns of an argument, unable to decide on one or the other.”
- “Hello, spelling fans. I fixed ‘dilemna’ over at Design Observer. Mortifying. I’ve been spelling it that way for almost 40 years. Like the guy says in Spellbound when his kid brother is eliminated, ‘I still think he spelled it right!’”
- “Ha! My daughter found dilemma spelled dilemna in a book today! Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober, published by Simon Pulse.”
- “Neither regional nor generational, I think. I’m 65 and live in the UK. Both my daughter, now living in Canada and educated in England, and I myself - grew up to spell it dilemna. We were both horrified to find we’d apparently been spelling it wrong all our lives. I’d have bet really serious money on my spelling.”
- “I have found my people!I just discovered this posting/thread through a Google search on“dilemna dilemma”, incredulous after losing a bet with my partner.For what it’s worth, she and I are both 38 and didn’t start school until 1972; she learned to spell it with an MM in Iowa, and I learned to spell it with an MN (I swear!) in Massachusetts.”
- “Here I am, doing a crossword puzzle that won’t complete without me ‘mispelling’ dilemna.”
- “The ‘mna’ spelling of dilemma is definitely not isolated to people educated in the 1970’s or earlier. I graduated from high school in British Columbia in 2002, and I know that I was taught to spell it dilemna.”
- “I am a 12 year old girl from England, and I have always been taught to spell it as ‘dilemna’, not ‘dilemma’. I think that dilemma just looks too…clutterish.”
And, then there is this headline from CNN. Can CNN be wrong?? What do you think?
P.S. My wife has written a post about her dilemma with this dilemna too.
I’m sticking with my double m. I think it’s been officially sanctioned.
I think it’s great that anyone other than that awful William Safire is still worried about the English language. I thought those days had passed.
Thk U 4 ths pst.
hey Reya,
U R welcome. So, how do you spell it?
Well, to add to that, down here remain some spelling and grammatical anomalies. Aluminum vs. Aluminium. The first is American English and the second British pronounciation.
I believe that is why there can be various spellings for different words, as the American English language has adopted many words from other languages. I remember when disrespect and irrespect did not exist as words!
Never ran across “Aluminium”. But, the really weird thing about dilemma vs dilemna is the story is apparently the same in England. I.e dilemma is the offically correct spelling but some Brits spell it dilemna too.
Irregardless of what the Brits might say, i have to go with Dilemma!
Google them…
Results about 34,200,000 for dilemma
Results about 427,000 for dilemna.
http://www.onelook.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/bware/dofind.cgi?word=dilemma
Found 31 dictionaries containing dilemma , none containing dilemna.
As an englishman, I can honestly say I’ve never come across the mn spelling before today.
And as an ex teacher of english, I would mark it as incorrect.
My arbiter in spelling is the Oxford English Dictionary.
It says Dilemma.
Both Aluminum and Aluminium are equally correct. And were both used in both England and the United States.
Sir Humphrey Davey, who named the newly discovered element first called it alumium, then revised it to aluminum, then, to bring it in line with sodium, potassium, calcium, etc, called it aluminium.
“Americans adopted -ium for most of the 19th century, with aluminium appearing in Webster’s Dictionary of 1828. In 1892, however, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It has consequently been suggested that the spelling on the flier was a simple spelling mistake. Hall’s domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.”
Wikipedia.
And, Steve, whatever else we Brits might say, we wouldn’t say “Irregardless”, -ever.
Soubriquet - Everyone seems to agree that “dilemma” is the officially recognized spelling according to all dictionaries regardless
of which side of the pond you’re on. The question is why is there this large group of people, from many English speaking countries — not just us Yanks — who learned it as “dilemna”. That’s the dilemma. Thanks for the explanation of aluminum vs aluminium. BTW, my spell checker just hiccuped when I wrote aluminium.
Steve - you’re still wrong about dilemma
I don’t think anyone should say “irregardless”, thats why I love to say it!
its just so George Carlin, no? someone quick, get george on the phone!!!
i love george. is he still alive ?
My mother phoned today… quick as a quick thing, I asked “how do you spell “dilemma”?”
“d e l e m n a?”
Damn!
And usually she’s a properly good speller.
My mother phoned today… quick as a quick thing, I asked “how do you spell “dilemma”?”
“d e l e m n a?”
Damn!
And usually she’s a properly good speller.
And she’s Welsh.
soubriquet - Yikes - the Welsh must be in a totally different spelling universe. Never would have come up with that version.
Demographics:
Born in 1977.
Educated in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Computer programmer.
I was shocked to not find “Dilemna” in any dictionary. It was just yesterday when I looked it up to settle an argument. This is clearly a case of Orwell’s vision of our future coming to fruition. We need to send a message by taking back the word “Dilemna”. We need to make a stand and say “We won’t be subjected to your doublethink, we won’t be subjected to your newspeak, and we certainly won’t let you change the spelling of ‘dilemna’.”
Rolfe - I think you should lead a new national movement to reclaim “dilemna”. I’ll be behind you all the way as will lots of other “dilemna” devotees. LEAD ON!
I am totally with you on the reclaimation movement! I didn’t find out until today that it was anything but dilemna. I suppose I have seen it spelled dilemma and always thought it was either a: misspelled, b:an alternative spelling, or c: the “lazy man’s” spelling, even though each have the same amount of letters! I always thought it may be like my old surname, which was spelled prask with an umlaut over the “a”. I was told that when my ancestors emigrated to Canada that the spelling was eventually changed to prosk because alot of people couldn’t pronounce it correctly!
Anyways, I think dilemna just LOOKS better with an “n” rather than double “m”s. I will keep using it until someone or something corrects me!
while reviewing a listed of posted vocabulary words, a student politely informed me that i’d mispelled the word “dilemna” on the board. i asked a few students to find it in the dictionary and was shocked to learn that it was actually spelled with two m’s! as several of the other posters noted, i’d also been taught to use the “mn” spelling. i’m glad to have found your blog. thought i was in the twilight zone for a moment.
Mrs. Kee - Glad this post helped show you are not alone. just curious. Where did you go to school? Part of our demographics study.
[…] I can’t recall how soubie came to my blog and left a comment. It was probably the “dilemma dilemna” post that did it. Of course like a good Brit, he was intrigued by that one. Soubie’s […]
I could almost cry. I thought I was crazy spelling it dilemna. But that is how I learned it-in Illinois, graduated a year ago. And I too, would have sworn it was spelled that way until learning that the “correct” way to spell it is dilemma. Ridiculous.
hey Nicole - welcome to my blog. It’s heartening to me to learn that people are still teaching and learning “dilemna”, even though it’s officially incorrect. Thanks for letting us know.
[…] I was typing an email tonight and used the word “dilemna” and was a bit shocked to see that it was underlined as though I’d spelt it incorrectly. So I googled it, only to discover that there is a huge “dilemna” over how you spell the word. I don’t care what anyone says - dilemma just looks wrong. Here is a link to an interesting article about it. The Dilemma Dilemna […]
livehappily -
It’s amazing to me that I keep getting comments on this post. And, equally amazing is that they come from all over the English speaking world. You’re the first Aussie I believe! Thanks for the mention.
After being asked by the Consultant Surgeon that I work for this morning how to spell dilemna, I answered him “dilemna”. He disagreed and said no its double m! I learnt to spell it dilemna and he spells it as dilemma. Our conversation grew as we checked the dictionary and then Google for any websites regarding the spelling of dilemma. We came across your website and had to leave a reply.
Sharon - Welcome to the club and thanks for leaving your comment. Where do you live by the way?
I never knew there was a dilemna/dilemma controversy. I instinctively spelt it D I L E M N A until today I had an unexplainable doubt when I was chatting on MSN Messenger. I was properly surprised after googleing to see the MM spelling. The MM version looks like that of a less educated person. This is really funny (LOL), I find dilemna looks more dignified if you can say such a thing about a word. Now I am on an experiment to find out how my friends and contacts spell this word. I’ll post the results sometime.
Philip - I never knew about the controversy either. I was absolutely certain that you spell it “dilemna”. I agree with your feeling that our way of spelling is more dignified.
just dropping my 25-cents worth in the pot… i arrived at this site after the jagged-red-spelling-error-line appeared from typing the word “dilemna” in an email
i prefer latin/greek origin spellings whenever possible because of the added “decipher-ability” when encountering an unknown word and you know root words. besides… it’s pronounced “di-lim-ma” –NOT– “di-lim-na”.
Eddie Izzard (very intelligent, funny, cross-dressing English comedian) said this in a performance: “we pronounce it “herb” not “urb”… because there’s a *freaking* ‘H’ in it!”
then you should pronounce it “di-lim-ma” and spell it dilemma because there’s NOT a *freakin* ‘N’ in it
here’s a theory:
back before computers (lol, that sounds like i’m talking about something years and years ago) when all of us WROTE with PEN/PENCIL/PAPER, and WRITING was still taught in school, we did a lot of CURSIVE writing. grab pen and paper and write out each spelling variant in cursive (if you still remember how).
if you write like me, you should see two words that kinda look like they are the same — it should be kinda hard to tell between either one if it’s -> MM or MN.
i can conceive how repeatedly seeing this word written in cursive (especially written by lazy writers like most of us are) could lead to such a common spelling mis-perception — “is that 6 humps or 5?”
re: above post -> Asheville, NC, USA, age:39 in 2007, college degree
b - so you were taught to spell it with 2 ms’? and just had a type that the spell checker caught? Or, did I misunderstand and you thought it was spelled mn? Anyway, I like your theory. It sounds like a plausible explanation of the origins of this dilemma. Thanks for the comments.
i don’t really remember being taught explicitly how to spell the word — but i did feel certain it was with MN instead of MM. the spell-checker busted me when i typed it MN.
i just called my Dad (62)… he said “d-i-l-l-e-m-a… no wait… d-i-l-e-m-m-a”.
i said “it’s not with an MN?”
he said “no…” then “i gotta go” so i wasn’t able to follow up on it.
called my best friend (37) he said “d-i-l-e-m-m-a”.
i said “you’ve never heard of it d-i-l-e-m-n-a?”.
he said “no, that’s not right, it’s with two M’s — with an MN would be a very weird way to spell it”.
and we went to the same school together for many years — i even won a spelling bee in 4th grade where he came in 3rd…
yet another call to Christine Kane, singer-songwriter-writer (http://christinekane.com) she belted out “d-i-l-e-m-m-a” without hesitation and had never heard of it spelled with an MN.
i may be providing a skewed result with those three, because they ALL have REALLY good vocabularies and spelling abilities… but that’s at least three people living without the MN illusion…
b - I think your results are consistent. We “mn” spellers are clearly in the minority, but we are not a silent one.
Thanks.
I was always taught to spell it dilemna and I even “corrected” my spellchecker! I’m glad I’m not the only person who thought it was spelt this way.
‘Fraid I was one of the MN brigade. Am 47 and spelt it MN up until about a month ago when someone corrected me in a Pub Quiz and It cost me a pint when I looked in the pub dictionary. However, told quizmaster that I will check in another dictionary away from the pub and I would find it….. you guessed it.. cost me another pint!!
My 16 year old daughter and I saw it spelled dilemma on the cover of “The Week” magazine and couldn’t believe the editors didn’t correct it. When telling my husband the story he told us we were dolts, it is dilemma. The dictionary sided with him.
We are from all from Maryland.
My theory is maybe it’s spelled dilemna in literature we have read, as we are both avid readers. Thoughts?
My husband and I just had this same exact disagreement last week!
He’s in the media industry and asked me how to spell dilemna. I
went to college for journalism and consider myself a very good speller.
I am still adamant that I learned to spell it with mn and could
not believe I would have spelled something incorrectly
for such a long time. We called his mother and got the same response
from her, mn. However when we got home and looked it up in the dictionary
it was mm. I went to school in western New York state and am sticking with the mn.
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wow this is weird, i could’ve sworn it was spelled dilemna. what the heck is dilemma! this is like a twilight zone for sure, haha!
vancouver BC, Canada
I went to elementary school in Northwest Missouri. I have thought it was “dilemna” all my life. I have always considered myself an excellent speller.
We have all been shifted in from some parallel universe. I bet there is another parallel universe where all the dictionaries say “dilemna” but our counterparts there have swapped places with us, and are convinced it should be “dilemma”.
Shocked!!
I was just talking about a book titled “Omnivore’s Dilemma” with some friends. I mentioned that the title was spelled incorrectly, and two of my friends agreed with me. One person, from Japan, said we were incorrect. The three of us were certain that it was -mna. We then proceeded to Google it and found no dictionary entries for “dilemna”. One is a University professor, one has a PhD, and I am a pretty good speller, and we came from different parts of the country. I can’t believe my eyes, it must be some type of conspiracy theory!
My God!
How did this happen us?? I am an obsessional pedantic CORRECT speller (educated in Ireland) and I argued vociferously with my boss yesterday that it was dilemna. I am mortified.
It’s comforting to see how many of us are in this alternate spelling universe together!
This topic came up on an email group I’m on, and here in BC, Canada I was taught “dilemna”. At first I thought it was just the British spelling because of words like “colour”, “centre”, etc. and was totally flummoxed to discover that it is apparently dilemma. I’ve decided I’m going to continue to spell it the way I taught, as the double m’s make me want to gouge out my eyes.
Just googled up this discussion, after having the same argument with my wife. I swore up and down it was dilemna, but the dictionary proved me wrong. I’ve always been proud of my spelling abilities, but 15 years of computers and email has taken it’s toll…
I will blame it on being taught that as a youth, but being in my 50’s, that was a while ago. I am in the US but was educated in British schools until age 12, I occasionally confuse british and american spellings, (like is it recognise or recognize, I can’t remember.)
I was sure it was dilemna, and was on the point of correcting MSWord, when I thought I would check it on the internet. I am an excellent speller. I remember one year at school going a whole year with 100% every week in spelling tests. It is not a 1970s thing, I was born in 1980. Spooky.
Not sure why this is.
The explanation of cursive “is that 6 humps or 5?” is a good start but not convincing. That argument could apply equally to any word, there is something specific going on with this one.
And I am from England not the US.
The same thing happened to me today!!! I have ALWAYS thought it was DilemNA and have spelled it uncorrected that way for YEARS until spell check sent me frustrated to the dictionary. I emailed 100 friends to poll and it’s about 50/50. One of them sent me the link to this blog. I was born in Southern California in 1970 but educated in South Georgia.
The same thing happened to me today!!! I have ALWAYS thought it was DilemNA and have spelled it uncorrected that way for YEARS until spell check sent me frustrated to the dictionary. I emailed 100 friends to poll and it’s about 50/50. One of them sent me the link to this blog. I was born in Southern California in 1970 but educated in South Georgia.
Born: 1967. Elementary school in SE Wisconsin. BA (Philosophy) and MBA (both in the US Midwest). Another thunderstruck “mn” guy happy to find the rest of you. Pity the poor “mm” people who, since spell-check never doubts their spelling, don’t know that this meta-dilemna is being deliberated in the blogosphere. (And I will not be changing my spelling to “dilemma”, thank you very much.) I think the Literature Theory may have legs–I too was (and am) a voracious reader, and I think I picked up most of my spelling habits there. Another suspicion I had was that it was changed by the same people who want to take the “u” out of gauge (in an attempt to rationalize the more troublesome English spelling peculiarities…).
Anyway, keep the “mn” faith. Shakespeare wasn’t hard-over on spelling rules…I think society can tolerate our little corner of nonconformism.
David - thanks much for your comment. There have been so many that I haven’t replied to any in quite a while. It’s been a bit of a dilemna for me. I loved your suggestion to pity the poor “mm” people. In fact, I liked your entire comment. Thanks for leaving it.
I designed an advertisement announcing a lecture with “Dilemna” in the title. the ad was proofed by at least four native English speaking professionals with advanced academic degrees, and no one corrected it. It was submitted to four publications. Only one editor noted that it contained a spelling error, the others accepted it. I Googled it and found this thread, and felt the need to join you. Anyone out there think I should take the trouble to correct it?
I’m in the ‘dilemna’ group and always have been. Let’s keep this spelling of the word alive!
Moshe - Don’t correct it - you’re part of the alternate ‘dilemna universe’ now!
Kathleen - welcome t the club!
This is so odd. I came across this post googling dilemma/dilemna. I am 35 and grew up in Manhattan spelling dilemma. Never even knew there was a possible alternate spelling until this afternoon and the Patricia T. O’Connor segment on the Leonard Lopate Show. She said that not only do people on both sides of the Atlantic spell it dilemna and swear that’s how they were taught it, there are people in France who swear by “dilemne” instead of “dilemme” the correct spelling of the word. How weird is that?
K - thanks so much for alerting us to the NPR discussion. I listened to it and it’s very much the same story that this post and the comments tell. I had not heard about the French twist - must be a universal phenomenon!
this is really weird. Up until now, I thought it was always spelled dilemna. No one had formally taught me, but I always saw it spelled as dilemna.
A couple weeks ago I discovered an NPR show, “A Way With Words”, while traveling. (It doesn’t air in my home city.) The announcer invited callers to call in with their language questions for the show, so I called and related how I had lost the Regional Spelling Bee here in Phoenix, in ‘73 or ‘74, and I was shocked when I was called out spelling it DILEMNA. I swore I had read it many times that way, and many others my age have since said the same thing. It’s odd that the issue is now coming up in various forums.
Anyway, I will be appearing as a guest on the show this week to discuss how I was robbed of that spelling bee title. If you’re interested, the website is www.waywordradio.org.
I’m 27 years old and have always spelled it dilemna. Like the rest of you, I just discovered that it’s not really spelled that way and I’m horrified!
I don’t agree with the cursive theory. I swear I was taught, by my elementary school teachers, to spell it with an ‘n’. I went to elementary school in Rhode Island.
Weird.
Yet another vote for dilemna. I grew up in Connecticut in the 70s, am now 38, and would swear this is how I was taught to spell the word. I heard about this debate on A Way with Words and found this blog after doing a Google search just to confirm what they were saying. So very, very strange.
I work at the Library of Congress and yesterday I came across the book Wizard’s Dilemma, by Diane Duane. I thought the spelling was wrong, but Merriam-Webster’s told me otherwise. I, too, always thought it was spelled ‘dilemna’ but I have no idea why. It’s like finding out there’s no Santa Claus. I prefer ‘mn’.
Away with Words, an NPR radio show out of San Diego, talked about this last week. They said something about “dilemma” being spelled with an “n” occassionaly in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, but it’s not something usually seen anymore.
I know these are old posts, but I have to add my two cents. I was taught to spell it dilemna in school (Kentucky and Tennessee) and my Mom was an English teacher and she was also taught to spell it that way. I’ve been spelling it that way all my life and was truly shocked to find it in the dictionary as dilemma. I like it better my way!
i agree with ‘dilemma’ as its in keeping with the etymology of ‘di’ and ‘lemma’. but i was amused to see that in today’s world of sms, folk still care about the correct spelling.
I (like many others) could have sworn it was spelled dilemna. I only recently learned of the dilemma spelling. One day I saw that spelling and assumed it was wrong (I think it was on the internet somewhere), and then I saw the same spelling again the next day on the news, so I figured I’d check the dictionary. And of course, the dictionary spelled it dilemma. I prefer the dilemna spelling, but I will (from now on) use the dilemma spelling for formal papers. I was talking to my friend about it earlier today. I asked her how to spell the word, and she, I /believe,/ replied with delimma.
Demographics: Raleigh, NC. Both high school juniors.
I intend to ask other people tomorrow, and I will report my findings if I remember.
Okay, so my dad spelled it dilemma, but my brother spelled it dillema.
Dad’s like 50-something, brother is a high school freshman.
I asked my other brother, and he spelled it the same as the first brother (dillema), which I found very interesting, as they are twins.
My friend spelled it dilema, and she’s a Latin III student and a high school junior.
Last set: one friend spelled it “dilemna.” The other spelled it “dilema,” then wondered if there was supposed to be an N. Both high school juniors in NC.
I am 38 and educated in India and I’ve always spelled it dilemna - my daughter 12 - born and raised here spelled it the “mm” way and I was shocked at her spelling. Obviously, I attributed this to the American way of spelling. My daughter, an aspiring SpeelingBee-er googled the word to prove me wrong. Needless to say - we landed here. This is a very interesting blog - and I intend to stick with DILEMNA.
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I’ve got the usual story: mid-50s and educated in American schools overseas and in the Deep South, I’d always spelled it “dilemNa” - until my spell checker told me I was wrong. The “mn” spelling was a family tradition: when my mother or my aunt teased me about fretting too much over a minor decision they would joke that I was on the horns of a dilemna, purposely pronouncing both the “m” and the “n”.
I asked some friends how they spelled the word and one of them found this post and forwarded it along. She was shocked that anyone would spell it “mn” - she’s always lived in the “mm” universe.
I’ve resolved to spell it “mm” from now on but I have to admit it looks not only wrong but kind of ugly so I suspect I’ll backslide from time to time.
I am a 60 something high school math teacher, born in WI, raised in CT, college in MN, and have lived in IL, IA, GA, and VA. Last week I used the word “dilemNa”, deliberately pronouncing the “N” for effect, in one of my classes. The juniors and seniors who have been in awe of my vocabulary and diction pounced on the opportunity to correct me. I handed over the dictionary, confident that my spelling was appropriate, as that was what I had been taught! To my dismay and their delight, I had to admit that not even the fine print indicated an alternate spelling! I am pleased however, to learn from this thread and others I have found, that I am not alone. I too will find it difficult to give up my silent “N”.
I just went into shock discovering that a dilemma dilemna actually exists. I was also taught to spell it as dilemna in school. Who knew all those East Coast teachers in the 60s were wrong? I should have a couple of dictionary left overs from the 70s and will check out if the dilemna with an “n” decade somehow vanished by way of disco dancing and platform shoes. Personally, I can’t get used to the double “mm.” Maybe there was a misprinted text-book divvied out to generations of youths and no one noticed?
Wow. Exactly two years ago today. I cannot resist leaving a comment, though you have plenty!
I was educated in Central Minnesota, Class of 1994. I specifically recall my spelling teacher telling us how to remember the correct spelling: pronounce the silent ‘n’ in your head. I have thought the ‘n’ every time I thought the word, ever since.
I am not sure when I was let in on the double M reality, but I struggle with it like everyone else, it seems. It is like someone told me the Earth really IS flat.
I am particular about correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. I am not pleased that I was mislead in my education. It makes me wonder… what else did “they” get wrong?? =)
(Note: my brother, Class of 1993, same school, spells it dilemma, and thinks we may have been lead astray by “condemn” - interesting theory, but I don’t buy it!)
Oh… and Happy Birthday to your wife! =)
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I have never heard of “dilemna” until today and have never seen it written or pronounced as such in the British Isles. What idiot has been replacing “m” with “n”? Perhaps this is a cognitive problem with some underlying neurological basis?
I first came across the dilemna/dilemma issue while searching for the book “Omnivore’s Dilemma” on the computer in a local bookstore. After getting frustrated at not finding “Omnivore’s Dilemna”, I finally asked for help and the clerk promptly found it in their computer and it took me awhile to realize it was my spelling of dilemma. I was raised in Detroit Mich in 60’s and 70’s and am CERTAIN that’s how we were taught to spell it. I’m flabbergasted that it’s not considered correct. I’m now going to have to poll all my family and friends to see if it’s just me. Maybe “ask” will be the next casualty as the horrible pronunciation “aks” takes over the spelling as well.