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Re: [groff] 04/04: tmac: Move macro diagnostics away from `quotes'.


From: Ted Harding
Subject: Re: [groff] 04/04: tmac: Move macro diagnostics away from `quotes'.
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2017 09:38:04 +0000

Which does not necessarily resolve the matter!
For instance, should one abbreviate "Street" as "St" or "St."?
Either is compatible: "S[tree]t" or "St[reet]."
In practice one sees both.

And "St" could also be "Saint", as in "St Andrew's St" ...

Ted.

On Tue, 2017-11-21 at 09:16 +0000, Denis M. Wilson wrote:
> Going back to shortened words, New Hart's Rules (OUP), states that an
> abbreviation (trailing letters removed) is followed by a period, eg
> Prof. whereas a contraction (other letters removed) is not, eg Mrs
> 
> Maybe UK English only...
> 
> Denis
> 
> On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 13:55:05 +1100 (AEDT)
> Damian McGuckin <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > 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: practise
> > >>
> > >> We 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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