Pooga
Even though it can be caught by any run-of-the-mill spell-checker,
"definately" is one of the most common misspellings around. Google shows
millions of citations for it. It appears even in edited writing: in books
and in newspaper and magazine articles.
If this trend continues, some day this spelling will tiptoe its way into
dictionaries as "miniscule" did. The original word was "minuscule", from
Latin minus (less). English language speakers erroneously believed the word
came from the prefix mini- and began spelling it as miniscule. As this newer
spelling grew in usage, it found a place in the dictionaries, first tagged
as erroneous, and later simply as a variant spelling. The rising popularity
of "definately" over "definitely" appears to be inspired by the sound rather than the meaning.
Purists might agonize over the "decay" of the English language, but the best
way to handle language change is this: be conservative in what you send and
generous in what you accept. In other words, be punctilious in your own
grammar and spelling, but overlook others' solecisms.
-Anu Garg