I get so much satisfaction whenever I see extravert spelled correctly, which is very rare these days.
First I wondered if the post had it spelled incorrectly.
Then you had me wondering if I’ve been spelling it incorrectly this whole time.
Turns out extravert and extrovert are both acceptable spellings but extravert did come first.
Correct. But extrOvert makes no sense, etymologically (latin). The dictionaries accept it, but I (jokingly) don’t.
Curious, because in Portuguese it’s “extrOvertido.” But I just learned the Spanish spelling can be both “extravertido” and “extrovertido.”
I’m gonna start spelling it intravert.
Thank you! There are dozens of us who care. Dozens!
Extrovert. Not extravert. Source: am introvert.
Tldr A British English, O American English
This is not to say that Jung wasn’t a genius. Jung was THE BOMB DIGGIDITY (which, by the way, I wish was an official term in the Oxford dictionary).
If they love Jung so much (which I agree they should because Jung was amaaaaazing), why don’t they honor him by using the spelling he actually used?
Love etymological articles with unreliable narrators.
Unreliable narrators keep us all in check, they make us question what we believe or know to be true.
Tldr A British English, O American English
What? How did you get to that conclusion? That’s not what the article says at all? It says Phyllis Blanchard used the (then incorrect) spelling with an O (while also changing the definition of the term to something most people I think would disagree with) in a paper she wrote and nobody knows why. And it spread from there.
I think you’re interpreting “Today, ExtrOvert is the most common spelling of the term in the United States.” to mean it’s spelled with an A elsewhere, but the author even brings up the Oxford Dictionary (UK) that says that the original spelling with an A is rare in general use. I live outside the US and I pretty much exclusively see the O-spelling.
EDIT: Changed from “incorrect” to “then incorrect” to clarify. She wrote her article before extrOvert entered the dictionary, and - according to the author of the article linked earlier in this thread - her article might have been a big contributing factor for it entering the dictionary that was published soon after.
It very clearly states that since 1918 the american spelling has been ‘extrovert’. That has nothing to do with whether the A or O is correct, only that O is more common in American English.
It also says she changed the definition, that’s the nature of language, it evolves. That can be through a colloquialism, a hard change (as this seems to be), or many other reasons.
I am not arguing whether it is correct or not, I am simply saying it is different.
Maybe I’m tired but this comment reads to me as if you’re disagreeing with me when everything you say supports what I said? My objection/question was how you came to the conclusion it’s a US/UK thing. There’s no support for that in the article.
We can both be tired, it’s OK.
I based it on this
Thanks to Phyllis Blanchard ExtrOversion is the prominent spelling of the word in the United States today.
In her 1918 paper, “A Psycho-Analytic Study of August Comte” she writes:
“In order to understand the marked contract between Comte’s mental attitude during his early years and that of his later life, we must keep in mind Jung’s hypothesis of the two psychological types, the introvert and extrovert, – the thinking type and the feeling type.”
Not only did she change the spelling of the word, but she also changed the definition!
That’s what I’m saying! It does not say anywhere that it’s spelled extrAverted in the UK. If anything it says the exact opposite.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “The original spelling ‘Extravert’ is now rare in general use but is found in technical use in psychology.”
(emphasis mine)
The Queen has been informed of your transgression.
Please remain calm and do not attempt to flee.
So confident, yet so wrong.
It’s almost like language is inconsistent and evolving
Why not intravert? Could be fun!
