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7/10/11

The 'Sherbet vs Sherbert' Debate

I went to a minor-league ballgame Thursday and was surprised to see a local ice cream company selling their wares at the ballpark.  Not surprised because of ice cream at the ballpark, but the flavors they were selling.

One flavor caught my eye more than the others:  Rainbow Sherbert.

Wait for it, let it sink in....

If you were looking at my screen as I'm typing, you'd see a red squiggly line under 'Sherbert.'  (ooh, there it is again...)  Why?  Because it's sherbet, not sherbert.

Growing up, I did not know this.  I loved sherbert, and ate it all the time.  Orange sherbert, lime sherbert, and of course rainbow sherbert...

But as I grew up (and learned how to spell...) I found myself enjoying sherbet much more often.  Maybe my tastes have refined over the years, and that extra 'r' just wasn't appetizing anymore?

But here it was, at the ballpark.  Sherbert.  In all its glory.

What strikes me as amusing is the debate of sherbet versus sherbert.  If you google 'sherbet' you get 7.58 million hits.  Sherbert, however, is much more popular at 9.38 million.  Maybe us sherbet-earters are in the minority?  Maybe Idaho is a 'sherbert-only zone?'

This could easily make me slip into slepping/grammar/phoenetics-nazi mode, where I attack people ruthlessly who use "Irregardless" or say "acrosst..."

But I'll save that rant for another time.  I'm in the mood for some sherbert... (dammit...)

22 comments:

  1. SamArmy7/10/11, 7:21 AM

    English vs American spellings my friend xD however its spelt its great stuff !

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  2. Pickleope7/10/11, 7:45 AM

    My mind is blown. All these years I thought it was sherbert. Does that mean no one is pronouncing properly?

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  3. Drake Sigar7/10/11, 9:25 AM

    It's like finding out your wife has a different name after all these years. Yes, this is EXACTLY like that.

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  4. Zombie7/10/11, 9:29 AM

    those stoopid grammer nazis!! lol.

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  5. BigOryx7/10/11, 9:44 AM

    haha, sherbert sounds like a ugly german :-D

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  6. Anonymous7/10/11, 10:06 AM

    It has, and always will be, sherbert to me. There is nothing greater than rainbow sherbert to sooth a sore throat when you are sick...it is a magical cure. I refuse to think of it as sherbet...that is just ludicrous. I cannot believe I am getting heated over this...but honestly it is sherbert damn it!

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  7. Shutterbug7/10/11, 11:48 AM

    I prefer frozen yogurt! :)

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  8. mamtc7/10/11, 11:49 AM

    Post made me drool and the pic is good. These Nazis should be packed alive to hell or even better made to work with Sarah Palin.

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  9. Tony Van Helsing7/10/11, 1:33 PM

    They look like small Jupiters.

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  10. Laurent7/10/11, 1:41 PM

    This might sound random, but your Blog title is also the title of a movie from 1991. I'm guessing you already know this though... Anyways, I never knew it was sherbet not sherbert.wow

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  11. Melanie7/10/11, 2:08 PM

    Just give me ice cream!

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  12. Anonymous7/10/11, 4:06 PM

    I don't really understand the need for pedantry in grammar and lexicon, especially English. The rules seem so incongruous. Not to mention they change more than women change clothes. Why the need? You say tomato and I say to-mah-to I guess. It's English English versus American English! IRrespectively (it's a new word) that is

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  13. Unknown7/10/11, 4:11 PM

    I can understand the "English English vs American English" argument, but I have never seen a container of "Sherbert" sold at a grocery store. All the packages say "sherbet" yet people add the 'r' more often than not.

    I FINALLY UNDERSTAND! The extra 'r' people add in sherbet is coming from the word 'library.' I know too many people that pronounce it "lie-berry" so this makes perfect sense...

    ...either that or it's the 'silent' r in February... either/or.

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  14. The Empress7/10/11, 5:11 PM

    As long as it tastes good going down perhaps it doesn't really matter...

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  15. Rebecca7/10/11, 6:38 PM

    i prefer ice cream

    Everyday Life

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  16. not displayed7/10/11, 6:51 PM

    over here sherbet is a fizzy white powder that kids eat. That looks like icecream to me.
    I think the language difference between english speaking countries is the funniest.
    I am pretty certain quite a few people read my blog and end up clueless as to what I am talking about. Fairy Floss anybody?

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  17. Eeshie7/10/11, 8:53 PM

    That last comic...Hehehehehee :D

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  18. Q7/11/11, 8:35 PM

    Skip the spelling. Now I want a bowl of the stuff.

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  19. Anonymous9/30/11, 6:27 PM

    This website is unquestionably relatively helpful considering that I’m on the second making an online floral site - despite the fact that I'm only beginning out as a result it is actually rather little, practically nothing such as this website. Can hyperlink to some in the posts right here because they are fairly. Many thanks a lot. Zoey Olsen

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  20. Jenny5/14/12, 11:37 PM

    Bah! It's sherbert and I don't care if the rest of the world is wrong.

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  21. Jenny5/14/12, 11:37 PM

    Bah. It will always be sherbert to me... The packaging and the dictionaries are wrong!

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  22. Jenny5/14/12, 11:38 PM

    Bah! It's sherbert and I don't care if the rest of the world is wrong.

    ReplyDelete

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