Targetting Vs Targeting, Which One Is Correct To Use?

They’re, and there, and their sound identical, don’t they? They sure do. The good thing is that depending on the context or the location within the sentence, it is easy to identify which one to use. I would love to say the same about other words, but sometimes we are not that lucky.

“Targeting” is the correct spelling. “Targetting” with two t’s is a misspelled version of targeting. This variation doesn’t abide by any American or British English grammar rules; it has less than 0.0001% usage in the last 50 years.

Knowing how to spell all words is not an art but also not expected of any human being. Society expects us to feel comfortable with the terms primarily used in our environment and make sure they are used correctly. Reading is so enforced from a young age to help build a broad vocabulary. The more you read, the easier it is to recognize words and spell them correctly when writing.

It’s essential to know the correct spelling of targeting, especially since we see it everywhere. To mention a few:

• Behavioral targeting (AKA audience targeting). Advertisers use it to collect data (action/activity) from users on websites. With this, they can produce ads that will be more relevant to users. They wait until a person visits a website, searchers, or starts adding stuff to their cart; the company then identifies their interests by placing cookies on their computers; and voila, they know exactly how to target you.
• Geotargeting. A method of delivering content based on their location. It could also be referred to as internet marketing.
• Geographic targeting. A way to resource allocation. It is used to help those in need.

Where else do we see this word? Everywhere! We can use it as a noun, as an adjective, or a verb.

• Targeting is the process of selecting your product or service to target the market.
• Protein targeting is the mechanism by which proteins are transported to their appropriate destinations within the cell.
• The missile veered off and ended up targeting the small village.
• We are at targeting practice.

Is English Changing?

The thing about the English language is that so many people speak it in different countries. Different continents and even different hemispheres. Did you know that British English is considered “traditional” and American English “modified”?

Does this mean that languages evolve or die? Both. Most languages die as people become bilinguals. Children of bilingual homes tend to speak one language at home and another everywhere else; sometimes, parents make it a rule. When the parents speak different languages, even from the one spoken in that country, they decide to have each parent speak in one specific language to the children. This way everybody learns all languages and never misses that part of their culture.

Languages are so important because they link people to many things. Because of the large number of words that describe feelings in Spanish, Spanish speakers often find it easier to express feelings in that language than they do in English. But if you want to make a lobster roll, you may want to try to look up that recipe in English as this sandwich is characteristic of Connecticut.

Does this mean English is dying? Au contraire; it’s evolving. If we look into what English was when it first arrived in North America, circa the 17th century due to British colonization, there was a mix of different dialects from various regions of England. Some people even say that it’s not that we changed the language but that we kept more from the original British English, and they were the ones who changed.

There has also been some dialect leveling, which is nothing more than an overall reduction in the variation on two or more dialects, making it more homogeneous.

English Is Changing, What Now?

It is and for many reasons:

1. Because it needs to change, people face changes in technology, education, science, and all of that requires adaptation. Texting, as an example, is filled with abbreviations. We don’t have an enormous amount of time to spend typing conversations. If we had the time, we would spend it actually speaking.
2. The higher that we go in terms of education, the more diverse our vocabulary will be. The key to sounding more eloquent is to know different ways to say the same thing. The Mad Hatter can be a crazy hatter or an angry hatter; it will depend entirely on whether you read Alice in Wonderland or not.
3. Are you moving? Some words are particular to certain places. A whole region can have a completely different word for a beverage with gas. Some call it Pop, others Soda. The farther away you move, the richer your vocabulary gets.
4. We get new words from different cultures, whether through their cuisine, the arts, or their literature. It comes to a point in time where we make it our own. Some countries have a potato salad called Russian Salad, but the funny thing is that there’s nothing Russian about it.

What does grammar have to do with this?

The deal with variations on words falls under grammar rules but is not particular to the British or American version; it is still evolving or adapting.

One of the things that have been attempted before is to reform a language. We’ve seen spelling reforms attempted throughout the years a couple of times, and it is understandable to a point because the English alphabet has redundant letters. Many letters already share the same sound. By not being a phonetic language, it is easy to see some incongruencies.

Let’s take the country name of Canada. This country is spelled in 47 languages, roughly the same way (Kanada or Canada). In American English, we have the letters k and c, with the same sound. Wouldn’t it be easier to stick to one of those letters for that sound? I would bet it would, but it would take to reform the English language for that to happen.

The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled in both American and British spelling when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. This is mainly to prevent confusion as we can have two different words derived from one root word.

The Rabbit Rule says that if a word has; two syllables, the first vowel is short, and only one consonant sound between the vowels, then the consonant should be doubled. The double consonants are to protect the vowels. When a suffix is added, such as -ing, -ed, or -able, the consonant should be doubled.

The British and their doubled consonants are that if a word ends with a ‘lone vowel followed by a lone consonant, that consonant should be doubled if the last syllable is stressed. This is not the case with targeting.

Only One Way To Go!

Having spelling variations is good as long as people know about this. If they see that they can write the word differently, it can make them look intelligent, fluent in two languages. But on the other hand, if they are unaware of this, it can make them look ignorant. But do we need two spellings? We don’t. Having two spellings for one word only works if used over time, but it didn’t happen in this particular case. For some people, “targetting” is a British spelling, but the rules say otherwise. Even if it were a variation of the word, it is not very popular. Hence, it died out.

Reading is more complicated than listening; writing is more complex than speaking. People can live for 40 years saying one word and having never written it before. Maybe there wasn’t a need for it or the chance to do it. Regardless of the reason, it is okay not to know all the words in the English language.