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The secret reason I spell Denyer with a ‘y’

A comment on a previous post (by a Denyer) claimed, “You are the only person on the internet spelling denyer with a y.” You can tell this person is a Denyer not just by the rest of their post, but also because they made a glaring error of fact that could have been avoided by spending five seconds on the internet Googling “Global warming Denyer.”

Denyers, however, are not particularly interested in knowing the facts before they make their wild claims.

That said, most people spell the word Denier — and I used to. Why did I change? To annoy the Denyers? While that would be a good enough reason, the actual explanation is much simpler.

The copy-editor for my book Hell and High Water recommended that change for clarity’s sake, and I asked a few people, including my editor, and they all thought it was a good idea. So the secret is now officially out!

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