Typo in EW MSQ: Going Underground

[IOMathias]

Text from Fourchenault reads:
"Though the Loporrits have endeavored to make the moon inhabitable, that is not our final destination. Mankind must learn to propagate life where there is none, to thrive where all is barren."

I believe it should read: "endeavored to make the moon habitable"

Edit: I'm stupid, please delete.

[Canadane]

Inhabitable means habitable.
What a country!

[Rongway]

Thread: Error in MSQ quest "Going Underground" dialogue

Merriam-Webster: Inhabit

Other Words from inhabit
inhabitable \ in-​ˈha-​bə-​tə-​bəl \ adjective

[IOMathias]

Oops! How do I delete this ...


For real though, why are habitable and inhabitable synonyms? Ugh.

[Kakure]

I came here to report the same thing. This should really say habitable, even if inhabitable isn't technically wrong. A lot of Americans emphasize the second syllable of habitable (sounds like hospitable) with an unstressed schwa sound in the first syllable like rapacious or about or careen, rather than pronouncing the word inhabit inside it as with inhabited or inhabitant. Inhabitable might not be a negation but it definitely sounds like one to an American speaker, like inhospitable or indomitable or indiscreet.

[Rongway]

A lot of Americans emphasize the second syllable of habitable

A lot of Americans? I'm an American and have never pronounced nor ever heard another American pronounce habitable /hə'bɪɾəbl/. It's always been /'hæbɪɾəbl/

[Kakure]

A lot of Americans? I'm an American and have never pronounced nor ever heard another American pronounce habitable /hə'bɪɾəbl/. It's always been /'hæbɪɾəbl/

*Shrug*

I have no idea idea how commonplace it is. It is not a common word to begin with. I was offering context to help explain why some people might misread the word inhabitable, but the reason isn't especially relevant either way.

The point is that if you have two synonyms to choose from and you think some readers might take one of them to mean the exact opposite of what you're trying to say -- whether because they pronounce the word habitable like habitual or for some entirely different reason -- it is probably a good idea to just use the other. That's why we always mark combustible materials with signs that say "FLAMMABLE" and not "INFLAMMABLE."

[Kakure]

On reflection, I guess that after listening to hours of jarring British pronunciations (a-MEAN-able, re-SPITE, ad-MIN-is-truh-tive, com-RADE, de-TRITE-us, and on and on and on and on...) it was easy to just assume that inhabitable sounded right to whomever wrote it because they pronounce it differently than Americans do. Whether it's an American thing (apparently not) or a regional thing or maybe just that I've only ever heard it spoken by other people who sounded it out wrong themselves, the larger point is that it is confusing to at least some readers and could very easily be made unambiguous.