When did the correct spelling become definAtely?
415035
it hasn't don't worry.  it's still definitely. unless bush has something to say about it.
1045405
zberryfunk does a good job of explaining that way sounds in a word are naturally changed to ease pronunciation.  And some of the things he mentions may at least partly explain how we came to say "Wensday".\n\nBUT  that doesn't entirely explain the spelling.    Nor even the pronunciation.   In fact, the written records show that it was all a bit messier than that.  Apparently the pronunciation varied through the centuries and from one dialect to another.  (And to this day there are some dialects in which the 'd' can still be heard.   Some of this is documented in the Oxford English Dictionary.) \n\nA couple of  obervations and suggestions:\n\n1)  SPELLING\nWe retained the spelling with 'd' either because dialects that pronounced it were dominant (or at least 'won out' on this point) OR from the desire of teachers and grammarians to preserve some of the ROOT form of the word ("Wodens-die" and the like) even when it was no longer pronounced (something scholarly sorts have OFTEN done, at times even inserting unpronounced letters "back" into words they believed had come from a particular root).  OR maybe is was some of each.\n\nBut though the "d" won in the SPELLING fight,  "wensday" won the PRONUNCIATION battle.\n\n2) PRONUNCIATION\n At least one of the written forms listed in the OED is wendesdei (from ca. 1275).   This inversion of letters (called "metathesis") to simplify the pronounciation is another common occurrence in spoken language.  Compare the word "comfortable" which is widely pronounced as "comfterbl" or even [losing the r entirely"comtubl"].     \n\nNotice that these sorts of changes -- loss of middle sounds, esp. vowels (called "syncope" or "elision") and metathesis -- are very common  in the UN-accented syllables of longer words.\n\nAt any rate, a pronuciation "Wendesday" > "Wendsday" is very easy to understand.  And note that if you can scarcely hear a difference between "wends" and "wens".  That's because the d an z-sounding s are both voiced AND pronounced at the same point in the mouth.  [Cf. how "scents" and "sense" sound the same, despite the T in the first.]
152808
I suugest it is a mispronunciatio of the french "s'il vous plait." The less educated of the time picking up what they thought they heard and used it to affectaion. Thus it became prety please
433257
Some are too lazy to use this feature! I'm not, rest assured! I've enhanced my spelling 100% using a computer the last 3-5 years. I'm 18 years old and am proud of my vocabulary.
594277
French spelling reflects French pronunciation of several centuries ago, during the middle ages, when the final consonants WERE pronounced.  Since that time, the pronunciation has changed, but the spelling has not.  Consider English as well, the k and gh of knight were pronounced in Chaucer's time, but the spelling has not changed in 600 years to reflect the modern pronunciation.
292723
the spelling differrence.. haha..
979205
uh did u spell tht wrong???
847313
I'm not sure I understand what you just said. Is proper spelling and grammer not cool anymore? \n\nDat sh!t is wack yo! You gotsta talks better, dat wood be off da chain dirty! Word to yo mutha, b!tch...
133363
If you start trying to figure the origin of English spelling, you will drive yourself mad in no time.  Go back more than a couple of hundred years and spelling was not very standardized.  Judging by what I see in Yahoo Answers, go forward a few years, and standardization will be gone.\n\nGenerally, English is not spelled the way it sounds, like Spanish and some other languages.  But the fault is not (directly) with Latin, because Latin was (as far as we know) much more consistent in pronunciation.  That's why so-called romance languages (languages like Spanish) are much more consistent than English, which has adapted words from many, many different languages.\n\nRE: romance languages.  How does French fit into this?  The French only pronounce about half their letters!
460857
Did you spell that right??
215387
BETTER SPELLING ,BETTER ANSWER
1045009
please .. learn your spellings
467642
In the U.S. the preferred past tense is "spelled," although "spelt" is not incorrect. "Spelt" is chiefly British.
1164995
Shame on some of your answers to this question! He/she asked a good question. So! one word was misspelled,  Remember ! what goe's around, comes around! I'm sure we have all misspelled a word from time to time. .....deckape, here is my answer ---This is the most constructive thing I've done all day, and thank you for giving me something constructive to do, before the day ends.  Now, I'd like to constrict a few necks, belonging to the answers on here!!!
337585
An ability to spell correctly.
6434
At least it is spelled differently :-)
665891
get someone else to type the question so it makes sense...\n\nand go here...\n\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/english/spelling/