My girlfriend asked me to post this question for her. She encountered the word "grovely" (yes, with an "o") in a text and neither one of us can figure out what it means, although from context it seems to be some sort of state of emotion.

I seem to see it in my mind with two L's...and as being in the state of groveling. If you're continually groveling for something, you're grovelly. As when you're constantly slobbish, you're slovenly.

Yes, grovelly makes sense. "In a text"? In a book: it should be printed correctly, but in casual writing I keep coming across adverbs like "radicaly" so spelt.

I suppose you could argue that the suffix wasn't the adjectival -ly of "slovenly", "cowardly", but the more common -y of "teary, snowy, dusty"; in which case it might come under the UK/US distinction of travelling vs traveling. It's hard to tell because L is the only letter where the distinction is clearly observed.

Can we find examples with another letter? Do we write fidgety or fidgetty? Crotchety or crotchetty? I think I'd go for double T, which shows that -y does invoke the same rule, but are there any clearer examples? Do Americans use single T in these?

We want unstressed syllables ending in -p to match worship(p)ing, or -s to match focus(s)ing, or -t to match rivet(t)ing.

As long as we are questioning the word's correct spellling (who's their copy-editor?), we could try groovily as a possibility. Maybe the author dictated the book and had one of those closed caption transcriptionists type it up (I see it all the time on my TV)...

Look who's complaining about spellling...

Yeah, Brandon...if we were having a groovy time you could say we were groovily hanging around! Which is, like, what we're all kinda doin' here at AWAD, man. Pretty heavy duty stuff, you know what I mean? Yeah, man, it's an outta sight place! I can groove here groovily for a long time!

And you gotta watch those L's...they can be pretty helllllllacious on your speling, know what I mean?

"grovely" (yes, with an "o") in a text and neither one of us can figure out what it means

It appears to mean a feeling (emotion) occasioned by having to grovel or to feel as if one *should* grovel ... that is : to move or lie in a prone position, face down, in abject humility; or - face down begging for forgiveness - or to behave obsequiously especially in seeking favor or forgiveness. (according to OED)

Look who's complaining about spellling...

You caught me. In reality, I rarely check my spelling on this board, but I read every email I send out with a fine-toothed comb. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I spend so much time watching my Ps and Qs, I'd better add those slim little Ls to the batch.

Thanks.

... fidgety or fidgetty? Crotchety or crotchetty?

fidgety and crotchety both look correct to me with my USn Reader's Digest Speling®

Digressing... big surprise...

I've always wondered how the handiwork of crochet ended up coincidentally the base of the word crochet(t)y... it can't just be crabby little old ladies who do the stuff.

Sorry tsuwm, but at least it wasn't about quilting!

but is it spilled® like that, FB?

oops. you've got two words conflated: crochet and crotchet. croTchety comes from the latter;
a: highly individual and usually eccentric opinion or preference
b: a peculiar trick or device

Maybe only little old ladies who crochet g-strings.

Re: : crochet and crotchet. croTchety comes from the latter;

where as crochet comes from the word for hook-- since the work is created with a hook-- the same word root is used in Velcro-- the inventer had one side like velvet (plush) and the other side as small "hooks" that hooked in to the plush side. the "hook" word comes into english as crook-- (as in by hook or by crook) as in a shepard crook..

the inventer of velcro was impressed with how well burrs stuch to his clothing, and set out to make a fastener as effective. (i forget the guys name, but i think he was french..)

George de Mestral - Swiss.

http://www.velcro.com/

A life-changing event:
Very earlt in my carrier I reviewdh the printer's-proof of a legal document, to be printed. It was ina very small-print, sans-serif typeface, and I missed a typo. Soon after, I was called on the carpet and had a serious riot act read to me, because I had not noted that (in that font) "willing" was writen as "willling". In other words, there were five vertical lines, rather than four, in tight succession.

Right then an there I decided that I did not want any part of a field of law in which that sort of thing was considered a meaningful measure of abibliy. Within the year I switched to another field and another lawfirm.

Now, whenever I run into anyone from the old firm, I thank the good Lord for that misspellling.

So Brandon, I'm with you.
PS: this post has not been spellchecked -- but is it any less comprehensible for that?

Great story, Keiva, and let me belatedly add my to my original post as revisited in the subject line. I for one tend to be kind of anal about spelling, but I don't hold it against anyone if it's not a person's strong suit.

So I would never question your abibliy... but maybe just rib you a little bit.

And if Brandon's email address is publicly posted, I'll be emailing him to apologize in the hope that my omission of the contentious emoticon didn't contribute to his reasons for leaving us... JazzO had a point in some other thread ~ the emoticons do help in conveying the spirit with which a comment like that was intended.

No problem. I have a lot to be modest about.
P.S. I'm anal about spelling too -- but weak in typing and proofing!