For your edification:

[conuly]

The word is pom-pon. There's an N at the end.

Oh, and those apes? Are orangutans. They may drink tang, but it's not part of their name.

GET IT RIGHT!

Thank you. This has been a public service announcement.

Comments

Okay, Ms. Descriptivist ...

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Google gives 3,090,000 hits for pom-pom and 698,000 for pom-pon. (Also 627,000 for pompon and 626,000 for pompom).

And I'd argue it's an issue of pronunciation, not spelling.

Re: Okay, Ms. Descriptivist ...

[conuly]

*blinkblinkblink*

If I'm steadfast enough not to accept the dictionary as proof (after all, I said it's one way, didn't I?), why would I accept google?

Re: Okay, Ms. Descriptivist ...

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I tend to accept Google as a much more reliable descriptivist tool than the dictionary, since it makes it much clearer what the relative usage level of each word was.

Re: Okay, Ms. Descriptivist ...

[conuly]

Yes, but in this case I'm being, in my own words, "the oppressor", i.e. prescriptivist. So, again, google? I ask you!