spelling variants

[mathman]

When does a spelling variant become a legitimate word? Examples: krazy (crazy),
sync (synchronous), bot (robot).

 

[Seattle]

When does a spelling variant become a legitimate word? Examples: krazy (crazy),
sync (synchronous), bot (robot).

When enough people use it...next.

 

[DaveC426913]

When the dictionaries add it.
When do dictionaries add a word?
When it becomes sufficiently popular in culture that it warrants being recognized as a legit word in its own right.

 

[sideshowbob]

When it becomes sufficiently popular in culture that it warrants being recognized as a legit word in its own right.

When people look it up frequently, a dictionary needs to say something about it.

 

[geordief]

Does the spelling variant have exactly the same meaning as the original spelling?

In that case should it just be noted as a variant whereas if it is used in different contexts and has different associations then it might deserve its own listing.

 

[DaveC426913]

In that case should it just be noted as a variant

Up until the advent of the *searchable* inline dictionary, that would have been problematic, since they're ordered alphabetically. For instance, before searchability, no one would have found 'bot' if they didn't already know to look for 'robot'.

 

[Michael 345]

Does the spelling variant have exactly the same meaning as the original spelling?

I would guess should have

However when a words spelt exactly the same can have different meanings who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[mathman]

My interpretations: krazy is for emphasis, sync is speedup, bot is I.T. speak.