This tag is for questions concerning the written representation of the English language, especially spelling and word breaks (including hyphenation).
3
votes
1answer
60 views
University's vs Universities', correct spelling of the possessive
Something belongs to the University.
Is it the Universities' logo or the University's logo? I somehow don't think University's exists.
25
votes
3answers
2k views
What is the plural form of “zero”?
I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results.
I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!
5
votes
1answer
10k views
What is the meaning of “atleast” and is it different from “at least”?
I don't think atleast is an actual word, but I've found many instances of its usage. A simple google search for atleast reveal 13,100,000 hits.
What is the meaning of atleast and is it different ...
7
votes
3answers
4k views
“Checking” vs. “chequing” vs. “chequeing” with regards to types of bank accounts
I came across this little dilemma when looking up the incorrectly spelled word "chequing" in my web browser's dictionary (Opera). According to the different dictionaries you can select in Opera:
EN ...
5
votes
6answers
662 views
Words starting with a 'gw' sound
There seems to be only a few words starting with the 'gw' sound, though the only ones I can think of are proper nouns, for example, Gwyneth. Are there any non-name words starting with a 'gw'? Is there ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
How to form a gerund from “practise”?
I (think) I know the difference between practise (verb) and practice (non-verb).
However, I am not sure which form I should use in cases like the following ones:
I love practising the guitar.
...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Which is the proper spelling: “Adapter” or “adaptor”?
In my current project we are writing a program to convert a newer protocol to an older one.
These conversion programs are being referred to as adapters, but the team cannot agree which spelling to ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Is it “dent” or “dint”?
It seems both dent and dint can mean an impression or hollow in a surface. Is there a reason for the two spellings? Do they have different connotations?
2
votes
0answers
33 views
What is the correct capitalization of code examples when beginning a sentence? [duplicate]
I am writing a technical book and a lot of it is structured as explanations of code examples.
For instance:
var links = data.map(function (d) {
return {source: nick_id(d.from),
...
1
vote
1answer
207 views
Who decides the casing of newly coined words?
We are creating a product which is online hosted CMS solution (something like WordPress), and we want to call it Site Pack. However, there are places where we need to join these words together (like ...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
Usage and spelling of “wordlength” and “bitbreadth”
As far as I know, these are the meanings:
wordlength — for instance, 4 bytes when the bitbreadth is 32 and 8 bytes when the bitbreadth is 64.
bitbreadth — for example, 32 or 64 or 4 bits for a ...
11
votes
4answers
535 views
What does randomically mean?
I've just read an O’Reilly book and encoutered the word randomically. I highly suspect this is a made up word, but a quick google found it in use here, here, and here. Is this some obscure technical ...
2
votes
3answers
72 views
Where does the phrase “fair do's/dues/doos/does” come from?
I was researching the phrase fair do's, attempting to determine which spelling was most appropriate, and where it had come from. Unfortunately most of the information I could find was very ...
20
votes
2answers
4k views
Use of “f ” instead of “s” in historic, printed English documents
I was at a museum in London yesterday, and one of the items on exhibit is a document from the eighteenth century. It uses the letter f a lot where s should be used—for example, in Majefty.
Did the ...
11
votes
2answers
3k views
Using “seldomly”
Fact: I'm not a native English speaker.
If at all possible I try to use spell checkers while writing anything on the web hence using one in Firefox as well. The thing is that whenever I try to write ...
0
votes
0answers
31 views
Belonging to a Company [closed]
Just checked out OED & Webster's online, I can't find the word "company's" - as in belonging to a corporation. Is there any reason for this?
43
votes
4answers
5k views
Why are there so few English words that begin with the letter X?
If one reads a lot of children's books, it is obvious that X is a real thorn in the side for those authors looking to have each letter of the alphabet represented in their books. Most of them either ...
4
votes
0answers
110 views
British spelling of programme and diagram
Does anyone know a reason why British English retains the -amme ending for programme but not for diagram? They both have French origins.
Programme
... Spelling programme, established in Britain, ...
6
votes
5answers
4k views
“Miniscule” vs. “minuscule”
Does the former have a typo or are they synonyms? Do they always have the same meaning? Please enlighten me as I am confused on this matter.
2
votes
4answers
296 views
Why does my spellchecker vindicate “floccinaucinihilipilification”?
I have heard of this word as cited to contain the most i's of all English words. I had never heard of it before, but when I copied and pasted it into my email program, lo and behold, the picky ...
4
votes
1answer
102 views
Why is the noun form of “permit” “permission”?
The noun form of permit is permission instead of permition. Why isn't it permition?
0
votes
0answers
57 views
Why is imperialism not spelled empirialism?
If the goal of imperialism is to create an empire, why is the word not spelled "empirialism"?
0
votes
2answers
50 views
Overview of comma and interpunctuation rules
Is there any good summary of comma and interpunctuation rules? I know that English spelling traditionally requires fewer commas than, for example, German, however I am often unsure whether to use a ...
4
votes
2answers
166 views
How much mmmm should be in hmmmmmmm
This is my first question here.
I am not a fluent English speaker. I just know the basics.
My question is how many m's should be there in "hmm" as when I try typing it anywhere, it suggests "hmmm," ...
2
votes
1answer
157 views
Why facebook “ like's ” instead of “ 'like's ”
I'm not native english, I'm sorry if this is obvious but I can't find an explanation.
Why are facebook "like"s usually referred to as "like's" (you can see many instances here)
To use a "word as a ...
0
votes
1answer
78 views
Does the word “raytracer” exist?
If not, is it well readable anyway?
"Ray tracer" seems to be used more frequently but this is not my question.
An example sentence could be:
A raytracer is a computer program that uses an ...
0
votes
4answers
143 views
When are you 'You', and when 'you'?
When is it in spelling that the personal pronoun 'you' should be written with capital Y?
0
votes
0answers
106 views
Reform of English writing?
As is commonly known, English is quite notorious for having a writing system that is far removed from the actual way it is most commonly pronounced. I understand that there are important historical ...
2
votes
2answers
97 views
Percent or per cent
How should I choose between writing "percent" and "per cent"?
For example:
He sold 42 percent of his stock in the company.
or
He sold 42 per cent of his stock in the company.
Are there ...
0
votes
0answers
37 views
Correct spelling of language names [closed]
In a sentence referring to various languages, should the names of the languages be capitalized?
3
votes
4answers
131 views
“Home page” or “homepage”? [closed]
Is there a convention for the spelling of the name of the main page of a website? Should it be home page, with a space between the two words; or homepage, all one 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?
35
votes
8answers
4k views
Is it “alright” or “allright”?
In practice I find both spellings being used. From a logical point of view, "allright" (as in: "all's right — everything is fine") seems correct. However, I recall hearing that "alright" is the ...
4
votes
1answer
97 views
“Exercise” but not “exercize”
Many words are spelled with -ise in British English and -ize in American English:
realise/realize
sanitise/sanitize
scrutinise/scrutinize
But exercise can only be spelled with -ise, never with ...
2
votes
2answers
100 views
Character vs Charm - Pronunciation
Is there a rule to understand how the group "Cha" has to be pronounced?
"Character" sounds with a hard first syllable, while "Charm" sound softer, but I don't find how to tell which sound to use ...
11
votes
1answer
602 views
Why isn't “muscle” pronounced “muskle”?
It comes from the Latin musculus (meaning mouse) and Latin has only hard c's. The "c" has somehow become soft or silent during evolution. Why did this happen?
Also, if muscle is pronounced mussle, ...
-1
votes
2answers
110 views
Where do I have to put my commas?
Are the commas in the right places in the following sentence?
I want to combine my experiences in software development
and network administration with the skills I acquired at university in one ...
4
votes
3answers
8k views
Difference between “publicly” and “publically”
I know publically appears as an incorrect spelling in most dictionaries (in fact as I type this up on my Safari browser it keeps trying to correct the spelling to publicly).
However I have seen the ...
0
votes
1answer
59 views
“Boneular” vs. “bonular”
My knowledge in morphology and orthography is lacking. I would like to know how to spell the neologism boneular, from bone (or Backbone, a programming library used for creating Web applications) and ...
-2
votes
1answer
95 views
Height and weight written out
In formal writing I like to do this (in British style):
The infant weighed 10lb 5oz;
a 10lb 5oz infant
He was 6ft 3in tall;
a 6ft 3in man
My question is about the plural usage: do we ...
19
votes
4answers
2k views
Difference between “artifact” and “artefact”
Is there any usage preference between artifact and artefact?
My understanding was that an artifact was properly applied to physical, historical objects, while an artefact was more correct for more ...
12
votes
4answers
574 views
Why did they spell it “URL’s”?
I was reading this documentation file of some software and note the plural spelling of this abbreviation is “URL’s”. Why isn’t it “URLs”?
6
votes
3answers
986 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
2answers
18k views
Successfull/successful - is this a UK/US difference?
I would tend to write double-l, but Google gives me more single-l, so I'm guessing it's an Atlantic divide thing.
And I guess all the other *full words.
19
votes
6answers
4k views
Which is correct: “Filename”, “File Name” or “FileName”?
Which is correct: "Filename", "File Name" or "FileName"?
7
votes
3answers
599 views
meaning and usage of 'teh'
“I wouldn’ say no teh a bit o’ yer birthday cake, neither.”
“He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him.”
—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Hagrid’s ...
1
vote
1answer
137 views
How to guess the pronunciation of some inconsistencies in English?
I’m not a native English speaker, and I have a lot of problems when is comes to pronouncing words like archive, archon, zealot, heal, health.
Why is the ch sometime pronounced like a k?
Why is the ...
1
vote
1answer
780 views
What is “Oki-doki” or “Oki-dokie” or “Okay-dokay”
Okay, since now we know what is the origin of OK (I like the Oll Korrect version), I have another question about it's relative:
What is an "Oki-doki" or "Oki-dokie" or "Okay-dokay"?
What is the ...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
Is it “falsy” or “falsey”?
I have seen both versions of the word, falsy and falsey.
It can mean "something that is equivalent to false" in computer science, such as "The only two falsy values in the Ruby Language are false and ...
3
votes
1answer
279 views
Do any print dictionaries admit “everytime” as a word?
I've noticed a tendency for more and more two-word phrases with even slightly idiomatic usage being written more and more as single word compounds. Today when I came across "everytime" written as a ...
