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Dialogue or Dialog

Dialogue or Dialog

Dialogue or Dialog

(OP)
Related to thread1010-153843: The most misspelled English words!

I have a spell checker for my Firefox browser, and it does not recognize "dialogue" as being spelled correctly.  Has modern usage dropped the "ue" for economy of motion?  Most online dictionaries I looked at gave both spellings almost equal weight, though it appeared that "dialog" had the majority.  One site was interesting:

Quote (Bartleby.com):

dialogue, dialog (n., v.)
The more commonly used spelling is dialogue, but dialog is a Standard variant for both noun and verb. The intransitive verb has been a recent vogue word, meaning “to converse,” but it strikes some conservatives as slangy and graceless: We dialogued for half an hour, but we got nowhere. Dialogued also smacks of the jargon of labor relations: spoke, talked, discussed, conversed, and the like would be better. The transitive verb, meaning “to put into dialogue,” is very rare.

I almost wonder if this is a case of some formal/informal writing standard that I may not know about?  I doubt it has anything to do with which side of the Big Pond you live. Which do you prefer?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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RE: Dialogue or Dialog

I would never use, "We dialogued for half an hour", but by habit I tend to use the UK extended versions of most words.

As for the spelling checker, I too use the FireFox one but have it set to the English option; so on my machine dialog is flagged as incorrect.

cheers

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Brit or Britue?

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

This is a bit like the choice you get when you install a lot of software packages.

You get the bit that asks you which language you want to use.
e.g.:
US English or
International English

And even the 'US' bit gets lost on some products.

There's been lots of apparently educated people talking on about this stuff.
Websters or Oxford? Your choice, apparently, just so long as you don't tell users of the other dictionary that they're wrong and you're right.

As for turning nouns into verbs, there is usually no need. A word usually already exists to describe what you want with unnecessary surgery.

Bill

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

My Little Oxford only has dialogue and only as a noun.  But then again it does describe itself as "The Little Oxford Dictionary of Current English".  And it is now 28 years old.

Regarding turning nouns into verbs, I still shudder when I hear of films "premiering".

- Steve

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Burglarizing
A hostage situation
Vectoring
......stuff like that.

Since you mention a particular noun that has been highjacked into a verb: when speaking on TV, there is also an apparent tendency to omit the vowel 'i'.  Premiere becomes 'Premeer'

Bill

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Premiering... that one got in under my radar.

Dialoging... set phasers to full.

Cheers

Greg Locock

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RE: Dialogue or Dialog

I tend to use dialog for computer forms and dialogue for speech.  Similarly for computer programs and theatre programmes.

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

program or programme

I'd vote dialogue but then I'm a Brit.

If I can use an extra letter or two, especially U, then I will!

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

It is not monolog, so why would it be dialog?

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Monolog, like dialog is an accepted spelling.  Same as prolog/prologue and epilog/epilogue.

Maybe fallen trees shoud be cut into logues.

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Only in those parts of the world not altogether at ease with US English, or Usglish, perhaps.

Bill

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Monolog, prolog, epilog?  You have to be kidding.  And "to dialogue" is just modern ignorance.

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

I've always spelt it with the "ue".  Just consider the spelling ...well...more refined and classic.  Typically UK...

I also prefer "either" and "neither" to "ether" and "nether".  I must have some English in me...  It's not just east coast - west coast.  Being on the West coast, I'm the exception.

Mike McCann
McCann Engineering

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

I often hear the different pronunciations for either and neither (ee-ther/eye-ther; nee-ther/nye-ther), but I have neither seen nor heard, 'ether' and 'nether' be used as substitutes.

Ether and nether have their own distinct meanings.

cheers

RE: Dialogue or Dialog

Pardon me - you are right...spelling same - pronounciation different.  My mistake.  I did a stupid.

Mike McCann
McCann Engineering

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