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From: | Damian McGuckin |
Subject: | Re: [groff] 04/04: tmac: Move macro diagnostics away from `quotes'. |
Date: | Tue, 21 Nov 2017 13:55:05 +1100 (AEDT) |
User-agent: | Alpine 2.02 (LRH 1266 2009-07-14) |
On Mon, 20 Nov 2017, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
At 2017-11-20T11:35:13+0000, Ralph Corderoy wrote:Hi Branden,Are you familiar with the U.K. practice[3] that says an abbreviation doesn't get a period if the abbreviation ends with the final letter of the abbreviated word?Nothing has been brought to a stop, unlike, say, Prof. Moriarty.[3] en_GB: practiseWe English use practice for the noun, and practise for the verb. Just like advice and advise.Curioser and curiouser! I have seen practise used in practise as a noun many times. Here's a prestigious example: https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783642391644
In this case I am taking prestige as proportional to price tag. ;-)
Sadly it is US variant. Look at the URL.English as spoken by most of the world has lots of examples where 'ice' is for the noun and 'ise' is the verb. Like licence/license.
Noah Webster pushed for spelling reform after he published his 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. Those reforms only really took off in the US. I could say the rest of the world was smart enough to largely ignore Webster's efforts but English has so many irregularities cause by its roots in Latin and Greek, that his ideas are not without merit.
Also, when spelling programs came out, Webster's digital copy of their words was $100 and the British Oxford was over $5000. It does not take a genius to figure out which one dominates a lot of software tools. The rules used by these tools to create British spelling from an American English database often leave a lot to be desired.
When in doubt, check the Oxford dictionary or better still, there is also Fowler's Modern English Usage.
Regards - Damian Pacific Engineering Systems International, 277-279 Broadway, Glebe NSW 2037 Ph:+61-2-8571-0847 .. Fx:+61-2-9692-9623 | unsolicited email not wanted here Views & opinions here are mine and not those of any past or present employer
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