Damn

[desperance]

Thirty-five years ago - or thereabouts; it might have been longer - my dad told me that 'committee' was the only word in the English language with three sets of double letters. That was how I learned to spell it, which I guess was his intent. I never questioned whether it was true, I just took it on trust because he said it (which is why I'm wondering if it was longer ago: 35 years back, I would have been twelve, and very questioning, and actually pretty good at spelling already; so go on, make it forty).

I've been writing all day, bar a wee break for lunch with a friend (fried fillet of sea bass, with a chickpea and chorizo stewy-thing, double-podded broad beans, like that - nice), and I've just typed 'stubbornness', and was tired enough to notice the action of the fingers; and yup, there's another one. And - if you allow -ness suffixes, which I think you have to do - there are probably others, that I'm too tired to be searching for just now.

But I would dearly, dearly love to tell my dad. And it's too late, he died eighteen months ago, and I feel robbed.

Comments

[durham-rambler.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know how you feel. shewhomust and I go walking, usually on Sunday, and I would come home and ring my Mum and tell her what we'd seen. And the thought still crosses my mind.

In the sixties and seventies, my Mum had a part-time job as a bookkeeper at the local youth centre. I'm surprised that one passed you by.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

To my (almost) certain knowledge, I've never typed bookkeeper till this moment. I may have no actual memory left, but muscle-memory lingers; the fingers, they know.

But I would probably have hyphenated it anyway, if only to avoid that double-k. Good in Finnish, kinda horrible in English.

[mantichore.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always "Mississippi", which must break some kind of record, but I'll grant you I'm probably stretching the English language far too much. :D

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Nah, place-names don't count. Even English place-names wouldn't count. Proper nouns from other cultures? Not a chance.