COLUMN: Spelling variations puzzling, though creative | Opinion

 As soon as I read the sentence, I had to ask, “Isn’t the word chockful—no hyphen, one ‘L.’”

 When I typed chockful, my computer’s autocorrect changed it to chockfull—no hyphen, two “Ls.”

 Then, I did what I almost always do in these situations: I sent my mouse to an online dictionary. There I discovered that all three spellings are variations, and each one is acceptable! No wonder it’s so downright difficult to be a good speller.

 And sometimes I have to wonder, “Is that even a word?”

 For instance, what about absorbable? That one made my ears hurt. Isn’t absorbent the correct term? Guess what? Either is correct.

 Surely orientated is a grammar faux pas; it has to be. After all, isn’t orient the root word of orientation? A recently hired employee is oriented to his new position, not orientated—or so I thought. Yet again, either is okay.

 I have my own “spelling pet peeves” and once again consulted Merriam-Webster to check them out. For example, I was convinced that athleticism was a made-up word created by sportscasters who seemed to have reservations about athletic ability. Imagine my surprise that athleticism truly is acceptable!

 When snow arrives, I’ve heard several snowmobilers describe their sleds as ones that “really flotate over the snow.” Now, the flotation characteristics of a snowmobile are very important, but isn’t the root word “float”? Surely flotate is not a word, is it? Au contraire, Wiktionary reports “third-person singular simple present flotates, present participle flotating, simple past and past participle flotated; nonstandard and non-native speakers’ English to float.”

 Without a doubt, my biggest pet peeve is congradulations, the favorite word of marquees and signboards. Surely, I had this one right, but I was losing confidence. Again, my autocorrect does indeed tell me the word is incorrect; however, it had also done the same with my I’d-bet-on-it chockful.

 I reasoned that we congratulate a winner, not congradulate, even though graduates deserve our congratulations. How happy I was to read in the online dictionary these words, “The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary.” I was vindicated!

 What prompted this Monday morning spelling mania? You see, I have a few word game apps on my phone, and sometimes I’m baffled when I see the puzzle solutions. These are words I’ve never ever heard spoken by any soul in my section of earth, let alone words I know how to spell. For instance, “skep” is a “domed hive made of twisted straw, especially for beekeeping,” and “kith” is one’s “friends, neighbors and family.” “Chilblains” refers to “a condition that causes inflamed swollen patches and blistering on the hands and feet.” Who knew?

 I was a good speller as a kid and had even participated in a spelling bee or two. I’d do reasonably well in the comfort and confines of my classroom, but once at the area competition? Let’s just say, there was this awkward redhead in glasses with stage fright. I don’t exactly remember the word I misspelled, but I’m sure it was something like “basket.” Clearly, when one draws a blank, even the easiest word escapes us.

 Still, I’m sure that I always knew the correct spelling of congratulate.