http://grammarist.com/usage/dampen-damper-dampener/ http://grammarist.com/usage/dampen-damper-dampener/ So you're correct -- I remember reading articles about

http://grammarist.com/usage/dampen-damper-dampener/ http://grammarist.com/usage/dampen-damper-dampener/ So you're correct -- I remember reading articles about suspension (ie: bicycle shocks) where they talked about the damping adjustments, and went through pains to differentiate between "damping" (ie: damping the rebound effect of the suspension spring) versus "dampening" (to make something damp (ie: wet))... but I guess "dampening" works all ways... I thought it was an annoying common-ish mistake, and here I am in error... Edit: more etymology -- http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/67497/is-it-damping-or-dampening-when-referring-to-sound http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/67497/is-it-dampi...