Grammar Girl here. This week I have a quick and dirty tip about money and monies. A conversation

with Ellen Hendrixson, the savvy psychologist about an MRI study on writer's brains. And

finally, a tidbit about the word egregious and how its meaning has changed over time.

Michael S. asked, quote, it's acceptable to say, to hold monies for payment and trust.

I presume monies is plural spelled M-O-N-E-Y-S. But I've also seen it spelled M-O-N-I-E-S.

Does this mean then that the singular would be a money?

Merriam Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary list both spellings, M-O-N-E-Y-S and M-O-N-I-E-S.

They say they're both acceptable plurals of the word money.

Winners Modern American Usage and the AP Style Book say that M-O-N-E-Y-S is the better spelling,

but that's not what you'll find publications using when you go look.

Before the mid 1970s, M-O-N-E-Y-S was the most popular spelling. But since then, monies

with an I-E-S has become more popular, at least in books that Google has scanned.

Both spellings are still in use though. The New York Times also has a new tool that shows

how words have been used in the paper over time, and it shows a similar pattern.

M-O-N-E-Y-S was more popular in the past, but the I-E-S spelling is what they tend to use today.

The magazine The Economist also appears to favor the I-E-S spelling.

It seems as if dictionaries and style guides are lagging actual usage, and I'm not the only person to notice.

The Cambridge Guide to English Usage also notes that quote,

M-O-N-E-Y-S is given preference over M-O-N-E-S in all dictionaries. Yet general usage in the UK and US

is clearly in favor of M-O-N-E-S. Unquote.

The bigger question is since M-O-N-E is already a collective noun,

Both Garners and the Cambridge Guide to English Usage explain that

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