This tag is for questions concerning the written representation of the English language, especially spelling and word breaks (including hyphenation).
6
votes
1answer
5k views
Spelling “Yeah” and “Yea”
When I read the words "yea" or "yeah", each spelling can mean two different things.
An exclamation of joy, as in,
Yea[h] for ice cream!`
Assent, like "yep" or "yes", as in,
Yea[h], ...
6
votes
1answer
103 views
Why is there an “h” in “pulchritude”?
I'd assumed that pulchritude was derived from Greek, because of the "ch" but it turns out to be from Latin pulcher. I've been taught that "c" always has a hard pronunciation in Latin, so why would ...
6
votes
2answers
195 views
“Lessen, poisoned gulls, ditcher wander hair annulled furry tell a boarder Slipping Booty?”
This is the prelude to an article published in Sports Illustrated magazine on August 17, 1959:
Lessen, poisoned gulls, ditcher wander hair annulled furry tell a
boarder Slipping Booty? Hoecake? ...
6
votes
3answers
593 views
Why do we spell “eureka”, not “heureka”?
Why is the spelling "eureka" by far more preferable to "heureka" in English? Greek vocabularies give "heureka" for the perfect to "heurisko".
6
votes
2answers
284 views
Why are “indemnify” and “condemn” spelled differently?
Comparing the words indemnify and condemn:
Both contain demn as a root
Both are transitive verbs
Why is one spelled differently from the other – why not indemn, or condemnify?
6
votes
3answers
2k views
What English word has the most consecutive consonants?
I was driving past the village of Hampsthwaite the other day, and happened to spot the six consecutive consonants in the middle. It set me wondering whether this was the most possible, and if not, ...
6
votes
2answers
907 views
Problem with -ance/-ence
OK, so I'm ashamed to admit that as a native speaker I think I've missed something somewhere. I was typing up some documentation and spellchecker kept bugging me. So I looked up some words and found ...
6
votes
2answers
575 views
Enquire and inquire
In British English I think these two words have different shades of meaning, but I couldn't articulate them. In American English I see inquire used where I would use "enquire".
Are there shades of ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Is “swop” an acceptable variant of “swap”?
I've always spelt it with an "a". But my friend insists on spelling it with an "o". Is this an acceptable variant?
6
votes
2answers
5k views
Is “imbedded” a valid spelling of the word “embedded”?
I have seen this used on our marketing materials:
The technology imbedded in this solution will help improve productivity.
I was going to flag it as a spelling error, however Googling provided ...
6
votes
3answers
7k views
How do you spell wifi / Wi-Fi / WiFi? [closed]
This is probably related to whether one should capitalize Internet or not. I am looking for the correct spelling of wifi when referring to a wireless connection to the Internet. I want to tell the ...
6
votes
2answers
678 views
How was 'Sundae' derived from 'Sunday'?
On Sunday, April 3,2011, Google displayed a commemorative graphic for the 119th anniversary of the first documented case of the Ice Cream Sunday.
(Image comes from: ...
6
votes
2answers
4k views
What's the difference between “adviser” and “advisor” — are both interchangeable?
I work for a financial services provider and we deal with "Financial Advisors" all the time. Increasingly, I'm seeing people send emails and so forth with the term "Financial Adviser" and the terms ...
6
votes
2answers
281 views
Why is “k” added to “panic” when suffixes added (as in “panicky”)?
When adding any suffix to the word "panic," a "k" is added after the "c". Examples: panicked, panicking, panicky.
Why is this the case? Are there any other English words that do the same? I'm also ...
6
votes
2answers
781 views
English line breaking rules
In Czech typography, some prepositions are not allowed to be at the end of the line, so line break is not allowed between that preposition and the following word.
Are there similar rules in English ...
6
votes
2answers
750 views
Capitalization for a bullet list
The following is from some software documentation we are writing:
NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:
you believe the data in the report has changed since it was ...
6
votes
3answers
841 views
“Smooths” versus “Smoothes”
I am interested in the rapid rise (since about 1993) in frequency of the spelling smoothes as against smooths.
An Ngram Viewer graph tracking the frequency of usage of the two words from 1800 to ...
6
votes
1answer
115 views
Should a contraction taken from the center of a word have two apostrophes? [closed]
I'm currently reading Entrepreneur Magazine, and there is a story profiling a 13-year-old who created a series of stickers to embellish Lego blocks. The subtitle of the story reads
A pint-size ...
6
votes
1answer
4k views
“Queueing” or “Queuing”
Which spelling is better, queueing or queuing? Both words seem to mean the same (or am I wrong?), but there are two different spellings. My context is:
Queueing Latency
vs.
Queuing Latency
...
6
votes
1answer
215 views
How compound words “eighteen” and “roommate” are built
Why does eighteen not have two tees like roommate has two ems?
6
votes
2answers
330 views
Why do American and British English use different quotation marks?
American English uses double-quotes, while British English uses single-quotes:
"This is a quote."
'This is a quote.'
Why do we use different quotation marks? When did this difference ...
6
votes
1answer
618 views
Variations in the pronunciation of “ea”
Perhaps this is more of a Linguistics question, so I apologize if this is not posted in the right place.
Why is it that these words in English sound so different?
earth = /ɜrθ/ “urth”
hearth ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
Why The New York Times no longer capitalizes “E-mail”
Why isn't E-mail capitalized like it used to be in The New York Times?
6
votes
1answer
185 views
“Dawkins'” or “Dawkins's” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When did it become correct to add an 's' to a singular possessive already ending in 's'?
I learned from school to use Dawkins', for example
That is ...
6
votes
2answers
723 views
“Lambast” or “lambaste”
I looked up both lambast and lambaste in several dictionaries, but came up with no conclusions about which one is AE and which BE (if this distinction can ever be made). Moreover, the different ...
6
votes
2answers
234 views
What is the difference between `-` and `--` [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When should I use an em-dash, an en-dash, and a hyphen?
Is there any difference between:
-
and
-- or in some cases, a long dash
I have seen these two used lots of ...
5
votes
9answers
1k views
Just how important are grammar and spelling?
A blog post of mine made it on the Hacker News front page. My blog post was mainly intended for a very, very small audience, but ended up getting around 20,000 views in one day. The most talked about ...
5
votes
3answers
12k views
31th or 31st is correct? [closed]
I just realized that I’ve never needed to use 31th or 31st in my four years English study. So which one is correct, and what about other alternatives?
31th or 31st
101th or 101st
1001th or ...
5
votes
4answers
925 views
What is the plural of “BlackBerry” (as in the handheld device)
Is the plural of "BlackBerry", BlackBerries or BlackBerrys?
I am asking, because I'm altering the underlying brand name to look more like the food and less like the product, leaving the reader to ...
5
votes
5answers
339 views
Is “denormalized” a word?
I use it all the time since I work with databases, but every time I write it somewhere with spell check I get the squiggly line below it. I've seen other people spell it with an "s" instead of a "z" ...
5
votes
4answers
332 views
Usage of apostrophe in “baker’s dozen”
In the phrase “baker’s dozen”, why does the apostrophe indicate possession of a (single) baker? Shouldn't it indicate possession of all bakers in general? Shouldn’t it be “bakers’ dozen”?
5
votes
5answers
227 views
Does quoting in British or American English depend on the quoted or the audience?
If you are quoting/documenting the conversation between two people — one is British and one American — do you use a consistent approach directed towards your intended audience or switch to ...
5
votes
3answers
869 views
Is it “flotation” or “floatation”?
Is the difference between flotation and floatation a US/UK difference or something else?
5
votes
2answers
713 views
Too, two, and to [closed]
Which to/too/two do you use when you are writing, "there are three ways to spell two/too/to in the English language?" My girlfriend has a BS in English and was unable to answer this so I was wondering ...
5
votes
3answers
684 views
Why does English spelling use silent letters?
Why have a letter in a word when it’s silent in pronunciation, like the b in debt?
Can anyone please clarify my uncertainty here?
5
votes
3answers
2k views
adding a prefix “re” to a word, with or without a hyphen?
In science we often invent words, but that doesn't mean we know how to spell them. Most of the time words are invented by adding prefixes. In that case should there be a hyphen or not? Specifically, I ...
5
votes
5answers
468 views
Spelling and plural of abbreviation “hi vis”
We regularly use these "hi visibility jackets/vests":
We use them often enough to informally abbreviate it to simply "hi vis".
I am struggling as to how to pluralise such a term. In speech it ...
5
votes
3answers
6k views
In British English, should it be “licensee” or “licencee”?
We all know that "license" in American English is "licence" in British English. But what about the person to whom the licence is given?
Various dictionaries show the 'c' version, e.g.:
...
5
votes
2answers
787 views
What is the correct spelling: “wrapable” or “wrappable”?
As it sounds: is "wrapable" correct, or is "wrappable" correct? Or are neither correct?
Microsoft Word complains about both, but Google doesn't correct either one.
5
votes
2answers
300 views
What is the correct way to write 'for ever more'?
I know that 'forever' is a word, and I know that 'evermore' is a word, but what is the correct way to write the phrase 'for ever more'? Is it 'forever more'? 'For evermore'? Or even 'forevermore', as ...
5
votes
4answers
541 views
Is there a verb “refactor” meaning “doing refactoring” in English?
Code refactoring consists of changing the structure of the code without changing its functionality. The term refactoring is currently used by software development industry to refer to this process.
...
5
votes
3answers
233 views
Is an ellipsis a distinct punctuation mark?
The ellipsis looks like three consecutive periods, but many type faces have a distinct glyph for an ellipsis. Is this an aesthetic distinction, or is the ellipsis actually a different punctuation ...
5
votes
2answers
170 views
“We'll do it in a…”
Today in my mathematics class my lecturer used a phrase I am very familiar with, and I suspect many others may be familiar with too. However, when thinking about how one would write a particular word ...
5
votes
4answers
13k views
Which is the correct spelling: “Granddad” or “Grand-dad” or “Grandad”?
Granddad or Grand-dad or Grandad?
Which is the correct spelling?
5
votes
3answers
3k views
“Indispensible”: is it correct?
Today, I saw a news headline on BBC News. It says:
Nuclear power is 'indispensible' says
safety agency.
As far as I know, the correct word should be "indispensable". Is it a typo (an example ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Why are the words “lose” and “choose” written differently and pronounced the same way?
I do know that there isn't only one pronunciation for syllables, and I also know that there isn't only one way to write a phoneme, but this intrigues me a lot.
Lose is spelled with only one O, and ...
5
votes
1answer
129 views
What are the correct spelling and regional distribution of “X, schmX” to indicate dismissiveness (e.g., “evidence, schmevidence”)?
There is a curious construct in American English in which a word is stated and then repeated with the prefix "schm-" or "shm-" in order to indicate the speaker's dismissive attitude toward a concern ...
5
votes
4answers
6k views
Timepoint vs. time point
When speaking of a point in time, what would be the proper usage:
"Timepoint" vs. "Time point"?
This funny confusion comes from my life as a programmer: While one of our style checkers enforces ...
5
votes
1answer
197 views
What is the significance of the “ô” character in “rôle” in this work?
In this document from 1916, on the last line of the first page is the word rôle. If context matters, the entire sentence is:
As might readily be supposed, the control of the lactic acid ...
5
votes
4answers
6k views
“Real time”, “real-time” or “realtime”
Which of real time, real-time and realtime is correct when you are talking about seeing something as it happens?
