Over the weekend, was out with my photography group when suddenly in the car, one of them was asking how to spell “40″. So, I spelled out “F” “O” “R” “T” “Y” = FORTY. Which prompted a reply from another of my photography buddy of mine saying that I am wrong. 40 is not spelled as “FORTY”.
At that moment in my mind, I was thinking “What the hell? Since when forty is not spelled as “FORTY”?”
And they insist “FORTY” is WRONG and it’s something like “FOURTY”. They are not even sure. Another even say if you write “FORTY” on a bank cheque, the bank will reject it!!!
I was totally stumped. Since when did they changed “FORTY” to something else?
Quickly I grabbed my handphone, started up Opera Mini and surfed to http://dictionary.com. Keyed-in “FOURTY” and you will get the following results.
NO RESULTS FOUND FOR FOURTY!!!!
Ok, maybe dictionary.com is not updated. Maybe some British English Professor’s finally came up with a justification that “FORTY” must be changed to “FOURTY” or something like that. So, I checked with a British Dictionary online site.
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. And below is what I got.
So, did our English language get REVAMPED when I was sleeping? Or I have stepped into another dimension, where “FORTY” is spelled as “FOURTY”? or something else? Or my photography buddies basically SUCKS in English?
