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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Double the consonant? #57436 02/17/2002 3:28 AM Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 320 Sarasota, Florida, US slithy toves enthusiast slithy toves enthusiast Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 320 Sarasota, Florida, US For ages it's bugged me that the New Yorker uses spellings like focussing and travelled, even though the accent is on the first syllable. Now I see they've used combating, which, it seems to me, should have a double-t. Have the rules changed? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Share Post on Reddit Re: Double the consonant? #57437 02/17/2002 3:37 AM Joined: Oct 2000 Posts: 5,400 rego park of troy Carpal Tunnel of troy Carpal Tunnel Joined: Oct 2000 Posts: 5,400 rego park Maybe-- or maybe just the editors.. standards at The New Yorker are not what they used to be! (Tina Brown has basing almost became a world class sport-- she is gone, and so are many editors) my other obsession Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Share Post on Reddit Re: Double the consonant? #57438 02/17/2002 11:43 AM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London NicholasW enthusiast NicholasW enthusiast Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London That shows you pronounce it com-BAT, and if you did you'd be right to double the T in combatting. I was going to say the stress on -BAT sounded old-fashioned to me, and British, but it turns out it's the other way round. My old Shorter Oxford has COM-bat and CUM-bat for both noun and verb, with no mention of the -BAT stress. Fowler (Modern English Usage) has only CUM- and mentions it under the -T- vs -TT- rule as one that goes combated etc., so he also pronounced it with unstressed -bat. A modern dictionary (Chambers) now only has COM-/com- (no-one says cumbat any more), but notes that the -BAT stress is North American, and rare here. The style-guide advice in Britain would be not to double S or T: focused, riveted, though focussed, rivetted would be regarded as also correct. The only letters with obligatory doubling are L and P (traveled, worshiped are definitely Americanisms, not alternative spellings), and with P it's only with worshipping and kidnapping and handicapping, where the syllable has some secondary stress on it and is pronounced with a full vowel. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Share Post on Reddit Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,915 Posts230,263 Members9,208 Most Online4,606 Sep 17th, 2025 Newest Members JerryC, blvd, Tony Hood, Wood Delivery, Forix Richard 9,208 Registered Users Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 27 A C Bowden 7 Trusted Roofing 1 John Fox 1 Tony Hood 1 Forix Richard 1 John Flex 1 handymanhome 1 JerryC 1 Wood Delivery 1 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 11,123 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,974 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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