P3D Re: Sync or synch?

[roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John W Roberts)]

>Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 20:03:48 -0700
>From: "Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

>Sync or synch?  Both are wrong!

>Is it the English language or just the American culture
>responsible for these horrible abbreviations?  (I know
>they are not common in other languages)  Is it a matter
>of laziness or what?

Dost thou maintain that thou wouldst fain forswear such trifling changes
as we have made in our language these few centuries past? Verily, the
language hath been greatly improved by many of these same changes.

For example, the word "wig" is short for "periwig". Would you rather say
"before I put on my hat, I first must find my periwig"? If you are a
geologist, and have to refer to it hundreds of times a day, would you
rather use the term "Moho", or "Mohorovicic discontinuity"? How about "DNA"
versus "deoxyribonucleic acid"? Do you ever say "bye" or "goodbye" 
instead of "God be with you"? 

We English-speakers were coming up with contractions and abbreviations and
other modernizations for a thousand years or more before you showed up. 
They add greatly to the power of the language, though they can also make it 
confusing. It's not laziness - we just don't have to try to maintain 
consistency with the style of Homer. (No, not Simpson - the other guy.)
In the classic English works (i.e. Beowulf, and the works of Chaucer), the
authors pretty much spelled any old way - there was no "pure" form for
modern English to adhere to. Also, English comes from many other languages,
with different rules of spelling and pronunciation, so users have come not to
expect any great degree of consistency.

BTW, my dictionary lists "sync" and "synch" as appearing circa 1931, with
past tense "synced" and "synched". A preference appears to be given to the
spelling without the "h". [Webster's Ninth New Collegiate]

.............

>From: revchas@xxxxxxxx (Charlie Hotchkiss)

>Spelling is not an exercise in democracy.  

Not in France, but in the US language is generally allowed to gradually
evolve, largely as a function of usage. The concept of usage is *somewhat*
democratic.

>The correct place to look for the correct spelling is in a dictionary, 

Contemporary usage of technical terms is often poorly represented in paper
dictionaries. They may *eventually* get into the dictionary, but the language
has generally evolved beyond whatever's in the current edition.

Interesting item regarding storage devices:
 - Magnetic media: disk
 - CD-ROM:         disc
 - DVD:            disk(???)

>not on the internet where it is rarely found.

Come now! On P3D, *most* of the words are spelled correctly. Just where have
you been looking, anyway? :-)

.............

>From: michaelk@xxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Kersenbrock)

>As much as a pain it sometimes can be, it's less pain
>than having to make a five minute talk ten minutes long
>because of the verbosity -- and transfer no additional
>information.

If succinctness were really considered a virtue, they wouldn't have passed
the law requiring that all new articles and advertisements use the word
"Enterprise" five or ten times. :-)

(I recognize the need for acronyms, etc., but usually wish the authors would
spell them out a little more often, for the benefit of newcomers.)

>P.S. -  I'd use "sync'd".  At least for engineering use, "sync"
>        is used much more than "synchronize"...

The use of 'd as a contraction for an -ed ending on a word is archaic - 
it probably went out of fashion sometime around the mid-1800s.
To be consistent, you should consider "synced".

John R

ps. What's the equivalent for the verb form of "stereo"?
Stereod? Stereoed?


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