Hey everyone, so I have an alpha reader giving me feedback on my WIP, and in it he corrected my word "boney" to "bony." This tickled my curiosity, so I looked them up on my computer's dictionary and discovered that they're both words with similar meaning. So my question is: are these like "grey" and "gray," where one is the English spelling and the other American? If that's the case, does it matter which spelling I use, or should I go ahead and use American spelling (my native country)? In the context of my story the word is used by dragons to describe humans as "small, bony ogres."
I've got two printed dictionaries from about 30 years ago (when I first moved to Scotland) - the American Webster's and the British Oxford English. Both give 'bony' as the correct spelling of the word meaning something with a lot of bones in it. Neither of them give 'boney' as a word at all. Maybe they've never heard of Boney Maronie. But then again, maybe neither have you!
Your assumption is correct . Thank you for the information! "Bony" looks better anyway, so I'll stick to it until and unless I find out it's better to use the other.
Hmm.... Dragon... Big, strong, bony structure, fierce flaming eyes, something that you can't trust and many people fear, immune to poisoning and hard to kill....
There's also Boney M, though maybe they've never heard of them either. But yeah, 'bony' is the generally accepted spelling for the word. While 'Boney' is a not very common Anglo-Saxon name meaning handsome.
As in: Ma bonny lice soda devotion Mae boonie lifesaver DC McBoniface Rover Commotion Oh, brickbat ma honey to me - Walt Kelly, Pogo