Henke 2022L

Another Deliberate Misspelling of Career from Mr. Lundahl: No Justification for Harassing and Confusing Our Readers

Kevin R. Henke

September 15, 2022

Rather than correct his gross misspelling of career and other English words (see Henke 2022b and Henke 2022k), Mr. Lundahl is contemplating doubling down in his arrogant stubbornness in deliberately misspelling words. In an email on May 17, 2022 (12:41 PM US Eastern Time), Mr. Lundahl threatens to use yet another misspelling of career to confuse and frustrate our readers:

And, for the future, I am not sure whether I shall write "carreere" instead, but the requirement to write "career" reminds me so of people telling Tolkien that "dwarves" is a misspelling or that "helms too they chose" is incorrect English. To me those are Barbarians without letters. Especially if they are half-educated enough to cite Merriam-Webster. [my emphasis]

Actually, Mr. Lundahl has no basis to dismiss the validity of Merriam Webster’s dictionary and to snob the millions of good people that use that dictionary. It certainly has a better reputation than the Wiktionary that he used in Lundahl (2022h). So, how can Mr. Lundahl expect to attract readers with this type of attitude? Over 300 million Americans speak English and Merriam-Webster’s is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, dictionaries in the USA. Paper copies of the dictionary are widely affordable. Its definitions are generally concise, accurate, contemporary, and available for free on the Internet. Also see Henke (2022m).

Mr. Lundahl also fails to realize that our debate is in modern English. Our essays are not meant to be Middle English poetry, Latin or a novel. He obviously cannot distinguish between fiction and non-fiction, when he tries to inject the language of a Tolkien novel into a serious debate on science and religion. Even C.S. Lewis understood that difference when he wrote fiction and non-fiction. Yes, Mr. Lundahl, fantasy, comic book writers, and other fiction writers are entitled to make up words, people, countries, far-off lands, planets, etc. However, instead of trying to imitate fantasy, you should be dealing with sober reality in an academic debate.

Now, Mr. Lundahl claims to prefer The Oxford English Dictionary, yet as discussed in Henke (2022k), he doesn’t actually read and understand it. As I demonstrated in Henke (2022k), The Oxford English Dictionary clearly states that “carreer” is not an acceptable spelling for career in the 21^st century. So, what does the The Oxford English Dictionary say about the origin and validity of Mr. Lundahl’s most recent misappropriation – “carreere”? It turns out that the word’s use was limited to the 17^th century and that it's even more obsolete than “carreer.” Carreere referred to the “short turning of a nimble horse” or a “rapid and continuous ‘course of action, uninterrupted procedure.’” Again, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary is more accurate and up-to-date than Mr. Lundahl when it defines career as a profession.