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The Diversity of the Abbreviated Form
Gregg Joe (Terminology Update, Volume 30, Number 3, 1997, page 27) The underlying reason for presenting this article is to respond in part to a growing number of difficult questions directed at the Translation Bureau by clients on the recommended spelling of new abbreviations or existing ones that have traditionally been lexicalized in a number of different ways, depending on the source consulted: written entirely in capital letters; written with the first letter capitalized only; written in lowercase; written with periods and intervening spaces between letters; written with periods without intervening spaces between letters; any combination of the above forms. Language specialists required to advise on the latest trends in usage must first convince the followers of the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (1976) that the practice of putting periods and spaces between the letters of every abbreviation is now considered outmoded in all but a few circumstances. Without the benefit of an official arbiter of usage such as the Académie française in France, researchers must somehow legitimize the present trend to drop any non-essential punctuation susceptible of slowing down the keying and sorting of information. And, in the interest of providing bias-free advice, they must acknowledge the disparate usages favoured by various sources which sometimes advocate a particular spelling, and—what is worse—sometimes more than one spelling, much to the dissatisfaction of users yearning for a definitive answer. As unofficial arbiters of usage, they must also, somehow, discourage the practice of duplicating abbreviations that already stand for other things. For instance, according to TERMIUM®, the linguistic data bank of the Government of Canada, there are already 15 different concepts associated with the polysemous abbreviation bsFootnote 2 (also written BS or B.S.), not to mention the vulgar one. Finally, language specialists must somehow reconcile the unconventional yet catchy spellings promoted by various corporations, spellings that often seem to run counter to conventional rules of grammar and usage. Most language professionals remain partial to their reference works of choice. They feel that consistency can be established, simply by referring faithfully to the same title. However, many of them may not be aware that their preferred choice is outdated or that consulting more than one source often leads to contradictory results. They may not even be aware of the reasons for maintaining or omitting punctuation and hence are unable to apply basic typographical principles when required to spell new abbreviations being admitted into the language everyday. To illustrate the problem, the survey below highlights variations in the treatment of selected abbreviations in current dictionaries and language manuals. Each abbreviation is followed by a two-letter reference label that identifies the source of a particular usage. It is understood that the absence of a label merely signifies reference to the base source, the new Gage Canadian Dictionary (1997), without implying any preference in regard to reliability. Reference and source labels are decoded at the end of the article. Various spellings AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) or A.A. (American Airlines)NY (Alcoholics Anonymous/American Airlines) The ABCs or A B C’sNY (i.e. (That Is), the basics) of word processing. AIDS or Aids (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)FM (The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage) OA (The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations) (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) AM (amplitude modulation) (amplitude modulation, i.e. (That Is), radio), a.m./p.m. (Post Meridiem) (time)AP (The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual) AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) PR (Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage). Also acceptable as time designations: A.M. (Ante Meridiem)/P.M. (Post Meridiem)AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) HW (Handbook for Writers) NY PR (Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage). In reference to time, GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) recommends the use of caps only in headlines and tables. AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) condones the use of caps in business forms and advertisements. AP (Associated Press) (Associated Press), A&P (Great Atlantic) or A.&P. (Pacific Tea Company Incorporated)NY (short for Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. (Incorporated)) at.no. or at. no. (atomic number)GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) (atomic number) AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph Company) (no spaces) or At and T American Telephone and Telegraph Company (American Telephone and Telegraph Co. Company)CP (Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors) AWOL (absent without leave)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) NY (absent without leave). CP (Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors) recommends AWL (absent without leave), but GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) recommends the following: A.W.O.L. (absent without leave), a.w.o.l. (absent without leave), A.W.L. (absent without leave) Btu (British thermal unit)AP (The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual) GR (British thermal unit) or B.T.U. (British thermal unit)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) NY CAA (Canadian Automobile Association)GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) or C.A.A. (Canadian Automobile Association) (Canadian Automobile Association) CD (compact disc)GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) or C.D. compact disc (compact disc) c.o.d. (cash on delivery)AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) (cash on delivery/collect on delivery) or C.O.D.AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) HW (Handbook for Writers) (no hyphens if written out in full) ESP (extrasensory perception)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) or E.S.P. (extrasensory perception)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) (extrasensory perception) EST (Eastern Standard Time)PR (Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage) or E.S.T. (Eastern Standard Time)PR (Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage) or est (Eastern Standard Time)PR (Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage) (Eastern Standard Time) f.o.b. (free on board)AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) or F.O.B. (free on board)AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) or fob (free on board)ST (Science and Technical Writing: A Manual of Style) (free on board) IBM (International Business Machines)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) or I.B.M. (International Business Machines)NY (International Business Machines) IOU (I Owe You)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) or i.o.u. (I Owe You)NY IQCS (intelligence quotient)GC (Gage Canadian Dictionary) GR (The Gregg Reference Manual) or I.Q. (intelligence quotient)CS (The Chicago Manual of Style) NY (intelligence quotient) M-G-M (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Incorporated)NY or MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Incorporated)GA (The Gazette Style) (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.) MP (member of Parliament) or M.P.NY (member of Parliament or military police) mph (miles an/per hour - no periods)GM or m.p.h.CP (Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors) NY NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) WT or NatoFM No 3, No. 3GM HW MW WT, no. 3CS HW PR PO box GA (The Gazette Style) or P.O. boxGC (post office box), P. and O. (Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.) Q and A T or Q. and A.NY (Questions and Answers) R & DT (Research and Development), but according to the GM, GR and CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing), no spaces are recommended: R&D rpm GC GR or r.p.m.CP (Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors) or r/mST (revolutions per minute) vs. CP (Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors) MW NY (versus); but vs increasingly seen; "v", should only be used in legal documents Types of abbreviated forms There are many types of abbreviated forms (or abbreviations): acronyms, initialisms, codes, contractions, truncated (or shortened) forms, and symbols. Note however that CS makes no distinction between initialisms and acronyms; both forms are labelled "acronyms." According to the new 1997 edition of CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing), an acronym is a pronounceable and hence memorable word formed from the first letter or letters of a series of related words, but pronounced as if it were an independent word, e.g., AIDS (or Aids (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)OA), CANDUEC (Editing Canadian English), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), GATT, radwaste (radioactive waste), algol (algorithmic language), Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) and UNESCO. Some publishers favour the use of initial capitals only for acronyms representing the name of corporations and international organizations, e.g., Alcoa, Amex (American Stock Exchange), Anzac, Benelux, CusoEC (Editing Canadian English), Inco, Nabisco, Sunoco. USEFUL RECOMMENDATIONS AND REMARKS As a general rule, no abbreviation should be used unless its long form has already been given in the text. Acronyms and initialisms Acronyms no longer require periods, nor are they preceded by the definite article. Furthermore, some acronyms are no longer even written in caps, having lost their proper name status, e.g., algol (algorithmic language). Note also that acronyms representing administrative units are generally written entirely in caps, without periods, e.g., CIDA. Acronyms are commonly used in computer sciences, government bureaucracy, the military, pop culture and in sports. An initialism is formed from the initial letters only of a series of words, where the letters are pronounced individually, e.g., AFL-CIOEC (Editing Canadian English), BLT (bacon-lettuce-and-tomato), CBC, CRTC, EC, ESP, NDP, NHL, YMCA, IQ, PCBs, UFO. In general, do not use spacing between periods in initialisms, e.g., Ph.D., B.C., U.S.A. In addition, CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing) and GR recommend no periods between letters of an acronym or initialism. In general, initialisms representing administrative units generally take upper-case letters, e.g., TSD (Terminology and Standardization Directorate). Furthermore, initialisms representing the names of administrative units and organizations usually take the definite article, whereas those representing a substance, method or object do not (e.g., The RCMP is under investigation). Initialisms also include initials such as those in O. J. SimpsonHW (spacing required in conjunction with names). Periods (but no space) are required in initials of 3 letters or more: W.A.C. Bennett, P.G.T. Beauregard. Note, however, the growing practice of omitting spaces between individual initials, e.g., C.D. Howe, J.P. Getty, despite MW advice to the contrary. Note also that GR does not recommend the use of spaces between initials at all. If a person is identified by initials rather than by a full name, the trend is to put no periods between the initials, e.g., PET (Pierre Elliot Trudeau). To form the plural of initialisms, simply add a lowercase "s", e.g., ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), RRSPs (registered retirement savings plans). Add an apostrophe only where a lone "s" might lead to confusion, e.g., TA’s (teaching asistants), POW’s (prisoners of war), c.o.d. (cash on delivery)’s (cash on delivery). To form the plural of abbreviations other than initialisms and units of measure, simply add a lowercase "s", e.g., bldgs., Bros., figs., nos., vols. Exceptions: SS. (saints), pp. (pages). Computers In the world of computers and the Internet, unpunctuated acronyms and initialisms are appearing in greater frequency without intervening spaces: ASCII, BASIC, BTW (by the way), CD-ROM, DOS, FYI (for your information), LAN, WWW, etc. Call letters The call letters of radio and television stations require uppercase letters, but no spacing between letters, e.g., ABC, BBC, CBC-FM, CBS, CHOM-FM, CITY-TV-Channel 15, CTV, NBC, PBS, WBZ-TV, YTV, etc. Exception to the all-caps rule are radio stations attributed with an epithet, e.g., The Bear, Magic 100, Mix 96, etc. City codes Certain large cities or segments of large cities with compound names are often informally abbreviated by travel industry specialists (2- or 3-letter city codes) and local residents in fax or e-mail transmissions for the sake of brevity: BA (Buenos Aires), KC (Kansas City), KL (Kuala Lumpur), LA/LAX (Los Angeles), MTL (Montréal), SFO (San Francisco), NDG (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, part of Greater Montréal), TMR (Town of Mount Royal, also part of Greater Montréal). Note that GA (The Gazette Style) prefers the punctuated form for parts of Montréal. Also, as a general rule in formal prose, do not abbreviate the names of countries, provinces, states, cities or streets in a running text. Compass directions (or points) (N, S, E, W) Canada Post Corporation does not advocate the use of periods or any punctuation whatsoever on envelopes, parcels and labels. According to AP and AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook), periods are required for compass points (N. S. E. W. etc.) used to indicate directional ends of a street or city divisions (quadrants) in a numbered address. The compass point may be placed either before the street name or after it, e.g., 555 East 5th Avenue, 56-5678 Pine St. N. However, AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook), CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing) and GR all recommend that compass points not be abbreviated if they precede a street name, e.g., 75 East 14th Street (not 75 E 14th Street). In addition, CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing), GR and MW recommend that periods should not be used after compass points that follow a street address, (e.g., 75 Booth St. NCA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing), 75 - 6thAve. SW). If the compass point represents a quadrant of a city and it follows the street name, the abbreviation may be used without the terminating period or full stop, (e.g., NW TorontoCA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing)). Courtesy and personal titles Courtesy titles that are abbreviated, such as Amb. (ambassador), Dr., Esq. (esquire), Gov., Hon., Jr., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Messr. (plural of Mr.), Prof., Rev (Reverend)., or Sen. (senator), Sr.—with the exception of Miss—require a terminating period in American usage. Some British and Canadian usages still prefer the omission of the period. CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing) recommends the use of periods. When a civil or military title is used with the last name alone, write the title out, e.g., General Boyle not Gen. Boyle. Also, if the title Hon. is preceded by the definite article, write the title out. MW tolerates the abbreviation even with the definite article. Note the absence of an abbreviation for Miss(es), hence no terminating period. Also note the plural form for Mr. (Messrs.), Mrs. (Mmes.), Ms. (Mses. or Mss.). Days Days should only be abbreviated (with terminating period) in business forms, tables, charts and calendars: Sun. Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Latin abbreviations Still commonly seen in footnote material, Latin abbreviations require periods in the appropriate places: ad val. cf. e.g. et al. etc. ibid. i.e. (That Is) n.b. op. cit. q.v. viz. vs. (or v.)Footnote 3 But no periods for the following: ad hoc ergo idem re sic Metric measurements Metric measurements, chemical symbols and mathematical abbreviations (mm, kg, NaCl, tan) NEVER take a period; all other non-metric/SI measurements (ft., yd., oz., bd. ft., lb., min.) may take a period, depending on editorial style. According to ST, "at." (atomic) and "in." (inches) should take a terminating period to prevent confusion with the prepositions. Single-letter symbols, such as, t. (temperature), should be punctuated in typeset matter, but may be left unpunctuated in tables and illustrations. The trend today is to omit the period, even for non-metric units of measure, for example, sq ft. There is no difference in form between the singular and plural forms for either metric/SI and non-metric/SI units of measure: 1 yd, 2 yd, 1 km, 2 km, a 100-km hike. Exception: Btu’sAZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) (blend of upper- and lower-case letters). Unlike other units of measure, temperature expressions do not require spaces between the number, degree symbol, or letter abbreviation, e.g., 32°C, 32°F. Military ranks According to GM and WT, police and military ranks, when shortened, require a period for reasons of editorial style. Note, however, that the Department of National Defence (DND) of Canada does not advocate the use of periods. Upon consulting the new edition of CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing), one will find that DND also has its own set of abbreviations that may not be suitable in standard prose. Upon consulting NY, one will also notice that compound ranks are not hyphened, e.g., Sgt. Maj. Moreover, depending on the source, the very same denomination may have a different abbreviation. Compare PteCA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing) and Pvt.NY WT (private). For other details, consult CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing). Months May, June, July are not to be abbreviated. Otherwise use the following abbreviations: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Note also that military datelines require no periods, e.g., 1 Nov 1997. In tables where space restrictions prevent the use of longer abbreviations, use the following (no terminating periods): Ja F (February) Mr Ap My Je Jl Ag S (September) O N (November) D Provinces and Territories Two-character codes are used on packages and envelopes to facilitate processing by computerized postal systems. They are also the preferred form in the Internet: AB BC MB NB NF NT NS [NU] ON PE QC SK YT LB (Labrador) Otherwise, use the following: Alta. B.C. Man. N.B. Nfld. N.W.T. N.S. Ont. P.E.I. Que. Sask. Y.T. Lab. Note the absence of spacing before periods following the capital letters. As an exception, GM recommends PEI without periods. States The following abbreviations are used with postal code addresses, with the exception of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Ohio, and Utah, for which there are no official abbreviations. Notice the lack of uniformity in the length of abbreviations: Ala. Ariz. Ark. Calif. Colo. Conn. D.C. Del. Fla. Ga. Ill. Ind. Kan. Ky. La. Mass. Md. Me. Mich. Minn. Miss. Mo. Mont. N.C. N.D. Neb. Nev. N.H. N.J. N.M. N.Y. Okla. Ore. Pa. R.I. S.C. S.D. Tenn. Tex. Va. Vt. W.Va. Wash. Wis. Wyo. Use the following list of two-character codes on envelopes, packages and in Internet/e-mail correspondence: AL (Alabama) AK (Alaska) AR (Arkansas) AZ (Arizona) CA (California) CO (Colorado) CT (Connecticut) DC (District of Columbia) DE (Delaware) FL (Florida) GA (Georgia) HI (Hawaii) IA (Iowa) ID (Idaho) IL (Illinois) IN (Indiana) KS (Kansas) KY (Kentucky) LA (Louisiana) MA (Massachusetts) MD (Maryland) ME (Maine) MI (Michigan) MN (Minnesota) MO (Missouri) MS (Mississippi) MT (Montana) NC (North Carolina) ND (North Dakota) NE (Nebraska) NH (New Hampshire) NJ New Jersey (New Jersey) NM (New Mexico) NV (Nevada) NY New York (New York) OH (Ohio) OK (Oklahoma) OR (Oregon) PA (Pennsylvania) RI (Rhode Island) SC (South Carolina) SD (South Dakota) TN (Tennessee) TX (Texas) UT (Utah) VA(Virginia) VT (Vermont) WA (Washington) WI (Wisconsin) WV (West Virginia) WY (Wyoming) More difficult-to-find advice on the treatment of abbreviations and codes will appear in future issues of Terminology Update. REFERENCES & SOURCE LABELS AP The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual: Including Guidelines on Photo Caption, Filing the Wire, Proofreaders’ Marks, Copyright, Norm Goldstein, editor, Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley, 1992. Attal, Jean-Pierre. Grammaire et usage de l’anglais, Paris, Duculot, 1987. Beer, David and McMurrey, David. A Guide to Writing as an Engineer, New York, Wiley, 1997. AZ (A to Z Business Office Handbook) Swindle, Robert E. and Swindle, Elizabeth M. A to Z Business Office Handbook, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1984. CA (The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing) The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing, Rev (Revised). and expanded, Toronto, Dundurn Press, 1997. Caps and Spelling. Rev (Revised)., Toronto, Canadian Press, 1981. CG Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London, Longman, 1991, 1985. CP (Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors) CP Stylebook: A Guide for Writers and Editors, Peter Buckley, editor, Extensively rev (Revised). 1992, Toronto, Canadian Press, 1992. De Sola, Ralph. Abbreviations Dictionary, Expanded international 7th ed., New York, Elsevier, 1986. CS The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed., Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1993. EC (Editing Canadian English) Burton, Lydia, et al. Editing Canadian English, Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 1987. Canada’s Postal Code Directory = Répertoire des codes postaux au Canada, Ottawa, Canada Post Corporation = Société canadienne des postes, 1987-. The Canadian Addressing Standard Handbook: Delivery Needs Accuracy, Ottawa, Canada Post Corporation, 1995. FM The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, first edited by H.W. Fowler, 3rd ed., edited by R.W. Burchfield, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996. GA (The Gazette Style) Gelmon, Joseph N. The Gazette Style, Rev. ed., Montreal, The Gazette, 1995. GC Gage Canadian Dictionary, Rev. ed., Toronto, Gage Educational, 1997. (Dictionary of Canadian English) GM McFarlane, J.A. and Clements, Warren. The Globe and Mail Style Book, Rev. ed., Toronto, Globe & Mail, 1993. GR Sabin, William, et al. The Gregg Reference Manual, 4th Canadian ed., Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1995. GU Tricoit, Christiane. Guide de l’anglais moderne écrit (G.A.M.E.), Paris, Coforma, éd. François-Robert, 1990, 1989. United Nations. Documentation, Reference and Terminology Section. Currency Units = Unités monétaires = Unidades monetarias, New York, The Section, 1991. (Terminology Bulletin, no. 343). HW Flick, Jane and Millward, Celia. Handbook for Writers, 2nd Canadian ed., Toronto, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. MW Merriam-Webster’s Secretarial Handbook, 3rd ed., Springfield, Mass., Merriam-Webster, 1993. NY The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage: A Desk Book of Guidelines for Writers and Editors, revised and edited by Lewis Jordan, New and enl. ed., New York, Quadrangle/New York Times Book, 1976. OA The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations, Oxford, Clarendon Press; New York, Oxford University Press, 1992. PR Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage, 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall RH Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, 2nd ed., New York, Random House, 1993. ST Science and Technical Writing: A Manual of Style, Philip Rubens, general editor, 1st ed., New York, H. Holt, 1992. Sigles en usage au Québec, réalisé par la Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale, éd., rev. et augm., Québec, Assemblée nationale, Direction de la bibliothèque, 1990. WT Skillin, Marjorie E., et al. Words into Type, 3rd ed., completely rev (Revised)., Englewood Cliffs, Soukhanov, Anne H. Word Watch: The Stories Behind the Words of our Lives, 1sted., New York, H. Hold, 1995. Notes Footnote 1 For the purpose of this article, the generic term abbreviated form includes acronyms, truncated or short(ened) forms, codes, contractions, initialisms, initials, shortened nicknames, slang shortcuts (e.g., C-note) and symbols (e.g., Rx: prescription). Return to footnote 1 referrer Footnote 2 Consequently, it is empirically difficult to provide a French equivalent for an English abbreviation whose full form is unknown. A context is absolutely essential to carry out research. Return to footnote 2 referrer Footnote 3 Many editors have begun to drop the periods after commonly used Latin abbreviations, eg., vs, v (used in sports columns and in court cases), the ultimate minimum required for sufficient comprehension. Return to footnote 3 referrerSource : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
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Aboriginal Titles
Katherine Barber (Terminology Update, Volume 36, Number 3, 2003, page 11) In recent years, there has been a cultural renaissance amongst Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. A renewed sense of identity has left a very marked impression on the language. The most immediately visible result of this is the use of self-designations by various Aboriginal peoples rather than the names imposed on them by outsiders, either other Aboriginal groups or European newcomers. Obviously this phenomenon happened with the shift from Eskimo to Inuit about twenty-five years ago, but in the past ten years the same phenomenon has happened with all of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples.In some cases, the shift has been slight. For instance, the people traditionally known in English as the Micmac have in only the last ten years come to impose Mi’kmaq as the standard Canadian spelling of their name. I can document this from my personal experience. In late 1992 I had a meeting with the editors of the style guide for The Globe and Mail and mentioned that I had recently seen this spelling for the first time. The editors opined that this would not catch on. But seven years later, the Globe started to use it as their standard spelling. Most Canadians are still pronouncing it the same way as Micmac [MICK mack]. However, in Cape Breton Island, I heard academics in 1998 saying MEE maw. Indeed, another variant is Mi’kmaw. As luck would have it, the acrimonious dispute that broke out in the Atlantic Provinces over native versus non-native fishing rights in September 1999 received much national coverage, and the pronunciations MIG maw and MEE mak started to be used by CBC reporters. The Canadian Press Style Guide editor reports that as a result of this, she has changed her recommendation from "Micmac unless the specific community prefers Mi’kmaq" to a blanket use of Mi’kmaq. And on October 7, 1999 MIG maw became the official Canadian Press pronunciation.In the way of dictionaries, we first found ourselves confronted with this challenge when we were working on the letter A in 1993. Suddenly we were encountering in our corpus and citation files evidence of a word we had never seen before: Anishnabe. We started looking for more, and before we knew it, we had 32 spelling variants for the word. A recent search yielded five more (see sidebar). This is the "new" word for the people traditionally known in Canada as the Ojibwa or the Ojibway (they are called the Chippewa in the US). It means simply "people" in the language of the Anishnabe. An interesting phenomenon with the use of this word was the fact that it was almost always unglossed. It was as if writers had learned that this was the now politically acceptable name and no reference should be made to the previous name at all to help people make the connection. Indeed The Canadian Oxford Dictionary lexicographers for a while thought that we were dealing with a totally new Aboriginal group that for some reason we had never heard of before.Canadian Citations (total of 37 variants)Ahnishinaubeg1982 Flowers of the Wild (Oxford)Anicinabe1982 Indians, Inuit, and Metis of Canada (Gage)anicinabek1986 Native Peoples: The Canadian Experience (McClelland & Stewart)Anishabec1988 The Canadian EncyclopediaAnishabe(spelling uncertain) 1993 heard on an episode of the CTV program "ENG"Anishinaabe1994 Anishinabek News1989 Toronto Starn.d. Anishinaabemodaa: Becoming a Successful Ojibwe Eavesdropper (Manitoba Association for Native Languages Inc.)Anishnabay1995 First Nations: The Canadian ExperienceAnishinabe1994 Anishinabek News1992 Anthology of Canadian Native Literature (Oxford University Press)1992 Canada’s First Nations (M&S)1990 The Province (Vancouver)1990 Ottawa Citizen1990 BC Bookworld1989 Toronto Star1988 Native Peoples and Cultures of Canada (Douglas & McIntyre)Anishinabeg1993 Ottawa Citizen1988 The Canadian EncyclopediaAnishinabek1994 Anishinabek NewsAnishnabemowin (language)1998 Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English Anishinaubae1993 WildflowerAnishinaubaeg (plural)1998 Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in EnglishAnishinaubaek1993 book title (M&S)Anishinaubaequae (feminine)1993 Crazywater (Penguin)Anishinaubaug1990 New Republic of Childhood (Oxford)Anishinaubee1989 Toronto StarAnishnaabe (name of organization)1994 Winnipeg Free PressAnishnabai1990 Ottawa Citizen1989 Toronto StarAnish Nabai1992 Nations WithinAnishnabe1992 Canadian Living1990 Ottawa Citizen1989 Toronto Star1988 The Canadian Encyclopedia1988 The Canadian Encyclopedia1988 The Canadian EncyclopediaAnishnabec1993 Calgary HeraldAnishnabek1993 Ottawa CitizenAnishnabi1989 Toronto StarAnishnaube1993 WildflowerAnishnawbe1989 Toronto Star1994 name of choir1994 name of organization: Anishnawbe Health Toronto (Toronto phone book)Anishnawbek1994 Anishinabek News1989 Toronto StarAnishnaybak (plural)Anthology of Native LiteratureAnishnaybay (plural)Anthology of Native LiteratureAnissinapek1988 The Canadian EncyclopediaAnnishnawbe1993 Globe and MailNishnabe1989 Toronto StarNishnawabe1990 The Gazette (Montreal)Nishnawbe1990 The Gazette (Montreal)1990 Ottawa Citizen1989 Toronto StarNishnawbe-Aski1993 Kanawanishnawbe1989 Toronto StarNishnawbs (plural)1986 The Rez Sisters (Tomson Highway, Cree author)Anishnabe clearly presented some challenges, but they paled in comparison with the lexicographical treatment of the numerous Aboriginal peoples living in BC. These people, traditionally known by such names as the Shuswap, Nanaimo, Carrier and Thompson, have opted for spellings of their names that seem impenetrable to anglophones:Secwepemc (formerly Shuswap)Xne Nal Mewx (formerly Nanaimo)Ktunaxa (formerly Kootenay)Stl’atl’imx (formerly Lillooet)Nlaka’pamux (formerly Thompson)It remains to be seen how successful these names will be in surviving in English when they seem to insist so heavily on their very un-Englishness. Of course, I believe that is the whole point. These names symbolize a total rejection of European colonialism. However, other names that are somewhat less daunting to anglophones, though still quite unusual, such as Nis’gaa and Nuu-chah-nulth (formerly Nootka) and Kwakwaka’wakw (formerly Kwakiutl), do seem to have caught on generally.Another consequence of the Aboriginal renaissance in Canada has been an influx of words designating Aboriginal cultural realities into more mainstream Canadian English. The expression "Aboriginal title" has become part of our daily newspaper reading. But Aboriginal spiritual and cultural practices have impinged on our consciousness as well, so that expressions like sweat lodge, dream catcher, sentencing circle, vision quest and hoop dance, which might before have been found only in anthropological texts, are now very much part of general Canadian English. This trend continues: to the 345 words relating in some way to Canada’s Aboriginal peoples in the first edition of The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, we will be adding another 30 or so in the second edition of the dictionary due out in 2004. A striking example is the very recent post-Nunavut name change of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (meaning "Inuit will unite" in Inuktitut) to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (meaning "Inuit are united with Canada").Source : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
Nombre de consultations : 1 359
Online and Offline: To Hyphenate or Not
Sheila Sanders (Terminology Update, Volume 34, Number 3, 2001, page 28) Languages evolved at a much slower pace before the advent of computers. This new technology revolutionized the way we communicate, changing not only our lives but also everyday and specialized language. Multiword terms such as on line and off line, which only a few years ago were written as separate words, are now hyphenated or written as one term. Unable to keep up with the latest trends, dictionaries and usage guides often give conflicting information. Computer lingo is in limbo. And to complicate matters, the written form that applies to Canada and the United States is often different from British spelling. Yet just because terminology is in a state of flux, it doesn’t mean that a word can be written in any fashion. The rules may be changing but they do exist, though they are often applied with a light-hearted, dynamic approach. The terms on line and off line are instances of the rapid transformation in form. Originally they were written as separate units, as in: Jeremy can’t find the off line readers site. Barb was pleased to discover that she could research her genealogy on line as well as off line. Now it is far more common to see on line and off line hyphenated, both as adjectives and adverbs: Gwen liked using an on-line guitar archive as a source for new songs. What are on-line and off-line signatures? Among the sources consulted, the 1995 edition of Collins Cobuild English Dictionary lists both online and on-line, with on line as an adverb phrase; it has no entry for offline. According to the Gage Canadian Dictionary, 2000, the use of on-line or online is optional, but off-line is the recommended spelling. The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 1998, records on-line and off-line for both adjective and adverb, while TERMIUM® documents usage for all variants. The 11th edition of the Dictionnaire d’informatique anglais/français by Michel Ginguay lists the two terms as both separate words and hyphenated ones, but all except one of the adjectival examples are hyphenated. The lack of agreement among sources and the fact that computer language is in transition are apparent. Other references, including The Canadian Press Stylebook, Information Technology Vocabulary (published by the Canadian Standards Association), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/IEC WD1 2382-01, 1998-06), confirm the use of the solid words online and offline. However, on-line and off-line have also been standardized by ISO for Great Britain. In other English-speaking countries, the preference is the unhyphenated spelling, as in: This chart was created from Statistics Canada’s online statistical database. Many consumers enjoy the convenience of banking online. Another source, the Prentice Hall Canada Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage, lists online but has no reference for the less common offline. Researching everyday usage in the search engine Google revealed that Canadians write both these terms as solid words approximately three times more often than the hyphenated version, but Canadian government texts show a slight preference for the hyphenated versions on-line and off-line. Where does that leave the average writer who simply wants to quickly determine whether to write on line, on-line or online (and off line, off-line or offline)? Writing these terms as separate words is no longer popular and does not reflect current practice. Online and offline may be written either with or without a hyphen. The rule, of course, is consistency: use the same form throughout a document. The normal progression in English is to move from two separate words, to a hyphenated word, to a single term. Thus, online and offline are no exceptions; they are simply moving through these stages very quickly. In this article, online and offline are written as compound words, reflecting the author’s belief about their ultimate spelling. To further highlight this normal progression, the sources below are arranged according to the two recommended spellings for online. When a source offers both, it is categorized according to its first choice. on-line Chicago Style Web site Dictionnaire anglais/français des télécommunications et de l’Internet (1999) Gage Canadian Dictionary (2000) Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1998) The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (1998) The Globe and Mail Style Book (1998) The Gregg Reference Manual (1999) The Penguin Canadian Dictionary (1990) online Dictionnaire d’informatique anglais- français (IBM,1994) E-What? A Guide to the Quirks of New Media Style and Usage (2000) Information Technology Vocabulary (CSA, 1992) International Organization for Standardization (ISO, WDI 2382-01 1998) Language International (Vol. (Terminology Update, Volume) 13, No. 1, 2001) Microsoft Press Computer User’s Dictionary (1998) The BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations (1997) The Canadian Press Stylebook (1999) The Prentice Hall Canada Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage (1997) Wired Style Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age (1999)Source : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
Nombre de consultations : 1 252
Wordsleuth (2007, volume 4, 2): Rule Britannia
Katherine Barber (Language Update, Volume 4, Number 2, 2007, page 41) Canadians often state categorically to me that Canadian English is closer to British English than to American English. They fervently believe this, in spite of the numerous differences of accent and vocabulary between Canadian and British English. Do "court" and "caught" sound the same to us? Do we put nappies on our babies and buy packets of crisps? What they are thinking of, of course, is spelling. One day at my local supermarket I had the enlightening experience of witnessing a linguistic debate carried out on the sign over the plants and potting soil. The unfortunate who had written the sign called his department a Garden Center. Some zealot had come along with a black felt marker, crossed this out and replaced it with Centre, accompanied by the adjuration "Spell Canadian!" The horticultural manager stood his ground, however, and wrote a note to the effect that this WAS Canadian spelling. It is true that on the whole, British spellings are more common in Canada, but there are some notable exceptions. We buy automotive supplies at the Canadian Tire (not tyre) store and park our cars at the curb (not kerb). All the same, if a Canadian talks about "Canadian spelling," you can be sure that they are talking about spelling colour with an -our ending. One thing that unites almost all Canadians is the desire to show the world that we are most emphatically NOT AMERICANS! And what could be a simpler, more effective way to do this than to write colour with a u and traveller with two l’s? That’ll show those Yankees!! Because we so fervently believe that Canadian English is closer to British English, some of us get our shirts in a knot (if we really spoke British English we would instead get our knickers in a twist) about how to spell words like organize. Some Canadians mistakenly believe that the -ise spelling for this suffix is the "Canadian" spelling because they are aware that Americans use only the -ize variant and that the British prefer the -ise variant. However, this British preference is only recent, and -ize has always been the preference of Oxford University Press and until recently The Times of London, the justification being that this suffix is ultimately derived from a Greek and Latin spelling in which z rather than s is used. The vast majority of Canadians who do use the -ize spellings are therefore not traitors to Canadian identity. They are following, not American practice, but former British practice and long-standing Canadian practice. It is time for Canadians to assert that we use not British or U.S. spelling but something we could call Canadian spelling, without looking over our shoulders to either imperial power. This is a blend of both spelling conventions, with the odd (or perhaps I should say occasional!) uniquely Canadian variant such as yogourt. This, it would seem, arose as a result of bilingual labelling laws. The spelling yogourt has the advantage of working in both Canadian English and Canadian French (where the word is preferred over the continental French yaourt), and thus the yogourt manufacturers have to print it only once on the tubs of their product. Another uniquely Canadian spelling phenomenon is that we are more likely to use the American spelling plow for literal uses ("the streets hadn’t been plowed yet") but the British plough for figurative uses ("I’ve got a ton of papers to plough through"). Apart from spelling, however, there are indeed some words that Canadians share with the British (and often other Commonwealth countries) but not with Americans. They make up a much smaller part of our vocabulary than the words we share with Americans. Over 5,000 words in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary are labelled "North American," compared to fewer than 500 words labelled "Canadian and British." Predictably, parliamentary institutions and the law (including policing) account for many of these. But others we use every day, and it is quite surprising to learn that Americans don’t. Most of us know that Americans don’t call the last letter of the alphabet zed, but are baffled to learn they never say ginormous, kerfuffle or mat leave. They recoil in perplexed horror upon hearing that Canadian (and British) theatres would love nothing better than to have bums in seats (to them bum means a homeless or despicable person, not the buttocks). How can little Americans make it through childhood without playing king of the castle or snakes and ladders, or getting the bumps on their birthdays? Why do Americans never feel hard done by? Even if we stopped spelling colour with a u tomorrow, we would still reveal our long-standing British connection through our language.Source : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
Nombre de consultations : 1 146
Wordsleuth (2008, volume 5, 3): Test Your Spelling!
Katherine Barber (Language Update, Volume 5, Number 3, 2008, page 33) Do you know the correct spelling of the following words that have established themselves as part of Canadian English?A shrub of the North American genus Shepherdia of the oleaster family, whose berries are used to make a thick frothy drink:a) soapalallyb) soopollaliec) soopalallied) soopolally A member of an Aboriginal people living in southeastern British Columbia and northeastern Washington:a) Ktoonakab) Tunaxac) Ktunaxad) Ktunaaxa An Icelandic crepe made with eggs, sugar and milk, often served sprinkled with both white and brown sugar and rolled:a) pönnukökurb) ponokukorc) pönnakökkerd) punnokukur Fine, soft wool from the underbelly of a muskox:a) quiviutb) qiviutc) qivviutd) qivuit A sluice gate in a dike, which allows flood water to flow out but does not allow sea water to enter, found especially in New Brunswick:a) abboiteaub) aboitteauc) aboiteaud) abboitteau A Newfoundland stew made of hardtack soaked in water and boiled:a) bruiseb) brewesc) brewizd) brewis A game in which wooden discs are flicked across a round wooden board towards its centre:a) crokinoleb) croquinolec) croquignoled) croakinole Ukrainian cabbage rolls:a) hollubtsib) holubtsic) holubtchid) hallubtchi A baked pizza-like turnover, consisting of dough folded into a sealed pocket, filled with tomato sauce, cheese, etc.:a) panzarottob) panzarotoc) panzerottod) pansarotto Thread, cord or thong made of rawhide:a) shaganappib) shagganapic) shagannapid) shaganapi Among some North American Aboriginal peoples, a thin board to which an infant is strapped so that it can be transported on its mother’s back or placed on the ground or against a tree; a cradleboard:a) tikkinaganb) tikkanaganc) tikkinagand) tikinagan A small, spotted, venomous North American rattlesnake, Sistrurus catenatus, found in the Bruce Peninsula:a) massasaugab) masassaugac) massassaugad) masasauga A dish of french fries topped with cheese curds and a sauce, usually gravy:a) putainb) putinec) poutined) pooteen A large serpentine sea creature supposedly inhabiting the waters off Victoria, British Columbia:a) Cadburysaurusb) Cadborosaurusc) Cadborasaurusd) Cadbarosaurus A small marshy pool or lake produced by rain or melting snow flooding a depression in the soil on the prairies:a) slueb) slewc) slood) slough Slush consisting of small ice crystals formed in water too turbulent to freeze over:a) frazzleb) frazilc) fraseld) frazel A pentagonal ceremonial blanket worn by West Coast Aboriginal peoples, woven from mountain goat hair and shredded cedar bark and covered with symbolic designs in yellow, blue, black and white:a) Chillkat blanketb) chill-cat blanketc) Chilkat blanketd) Chilkatt blanket An Inuit language spoken in the Coronation Gulf area of the Central Arctic:a) Inuinnaqtunb) Innuinnaqtunc) Innuinaqtund) Inuinaqtun A large squirrel, Spermophilus parryii, with a dappled greyish-brown coat, of Northern Canada and Asia; the Arctic ground squirrel:a) siksikb) sicksickc) siksickd) sicsic A large North American pike, Esox masquinongy, especially of the Great Lakes:a) muskielungeb) muskelungec) muskellunged) muskalungeAnswers:b. c. a. b. c. d. a. b. c. a. d. a. c. b. d. b. c. a. a. c.Source : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
Nombre de consultations : 1 106
Wordsleuth (2008, volume 5, 2): Ptoing the Line for a Small Phoe
Katherine Barber (Language Update, Volume 5, Number 2, 2008, page 18) Here’s a challenge for you: How many ways can the syllable that sounds like "SEE" be spelled in English? Can you think of an example word to illustrate each of those spellings? Keep thinking! All will be revealed at the end of this article. Because English speakers have been such enthusiastic borrowers from other languages throughout our history, our spelling is notoriously non-phonetic. It causes grief to both native speakers and second-language learners. But its sheer quirkiness has contributed to what we can only call a "language as parlour game" phenomenon: English speakers love to test their linguistic mettle (or is that metal, or meddle, or medal?) in games like spelling bees, and our many homophones make the language a fertile source for punsters. (How are you doing on those "SEE" spellings? Are you up to 10 yet? There are more!) For the last year, my fellow lexicographers and I have been working on a new dictionary that focuses on the words that are hard to spell in English. There is an honourable tradition of such "hard words" dictionaries in English; indeed, the first dictionaries were this kind, but they have fallen out of favour somewhat, replaced by the all-inclusive dictionaries. However, the dramatic rise in the popularity of spelling bees has led (not lead) us to think that the time is ripe again for such a book, and thus Oxford’s Canadian Spelling Bee Dictionary was born (not borne). It may surprise you to know that, even taking out the easy-to-spell words from the big Canadian Oxford Dictionary, we are still left with over 36,000 problem words. So, for the last several months, we have thought about little else than spelling and pronunciation, and we have come to a radical conclusion. English is a wacky language. Lunatic, even. Consider how many ways we can write the sound "TOE." In a sensible language, it would be written "to." But no, not for us. The digraph "to" is pronounced "TOE" in some words, but when to is a word unto itself, it is pronounced "TOO," not of course to be confused with two or too. Dear me, I am feeling faint. pto: ptomaine tau: taupe teau: plateau teaux: Saulteaux tho: Thomism to: potato toa: toad toe: toe toh: butoh tot: Pitot tow: tow tto: ditto (12 spellings) "Twelve spellings," you think, "But that’s ridiculous!" (By the way, how are those "SEE" spellings coming along? There are more than twelve!) Okay, then. Or should I say, "Oqué?" Because for the sound in okay we have: ca: caber cai: caiman cay: decay cca: occasion cei: ceilidh cha: chaos k: KO ka: kaolin kay: okay ke: kea kei: keiretsu key: Keynesian kka: Akkadian qa: qadi qué: appliqué que: quesadilla quet: bouquet (17 spellings) Seventeen??!! Surely there (not their or they’re) can’t be more for "SEE"! Think again! And while you’re mulling on that, let’s talk about homophones some more. Our new dictionary lists all possible homophones of the words that are included. So our old confusable friends affect/effect, desert/dessert, and principal/principle are there. These are problems for all English speakers. But because our dictionaries are Canadian, we reflect Canadian pronunciation, and what are homophones for us are not necessarily homophones in other varieties of English. For instance, khat (an Arabian shrub whose leaves are chewed as a stimulant), cot and caught are all pronounced the same in Canadian English but differently in Southern Standard British English (where, what’s more, caught is a homophone of court, and khat is a homophone of cart). A particularly interesting phenomenon occurs when a vowel precedes the letter r. For most Canadians the words harry and hairy are perfect homophones. Dictionaries from other countries would fail to warn you about this. It’s not just the vowels that are a problem, though. In North American English we tend to pronounce the letter t between two vowels or before a syllabic l as "d"; hence it is possible to confuse tutor and Tudor or hurtle and hurdle. On looking at our almost 1,800 homophone warnings, you might think, "Well, really, who would ever confuse tootsie and Tutsi??" But bear in mind that in a spelling bee, contestants are given the word orally out of context, so when they hear the sound "TOOT see" (there, I’ve just given you two spellings of SEE!), they have no way of knowing what is meant. There are many more homophones than you probably suspect. To keep you entertained while you’re still working on your "SEE" list, here are some other syllables in English with wildly variant spellings: The choux is on the other foot: choux: choux paste sciu: prosciutto shoe: shoe shoo: shoo shu: Shuswap su: sensual tu: punctual xu: sexual (8 spellings) Jai thee to a nunnery: ha’i: Baha’i hai: Haida hay: Haydnesque hei: heinie heigh: height hi: hi hie: hie high: high hy: hyacinth jai: jai alai (10 spellings, 11 if we also count chai in l’chaim) Heaving a sci: ci: cite cy: cyan psi: psi psy: psych sai: saiga say: sayonara sci: sciatic scy: scythe si: site sig: sign sigh: sigh ssai: assai ssi: Messiah sy: prophesy xi: xi (15 spellings) For a small phoe: fae: faeces fe: febrile fea: feat fee: fee ffee: coffee ffei: caffeine ffi: graffiti ffy: taffy fi: fiasco fie: fief fil: fils fille: fille de joie fit: confit fj: fjord foe: foetus fy: salsify ghie: toughie ghy: roughy phae: nymphae phe: phenol phee: biographee phi: morphine phoe: phoebe phy: philosophy (a whopping 24 spellings) But "SEE" trumps them all. This is your last chance. Exhausted all the possibilities you can think of? Let’s see. From Cey to coe: There are THIRTY different spellings of "SEE" in English! cae: Caesar ce: cede cea: cease cee: Sadducee cei: receive cey: Ceylonese ci: calcium cie: species coe: coelom cy: pharmacy sce: scene sci: hyoscine se: sebum sea: sea see: see sei: seize sey: curtsey si: si sie: siege sse: Tennessean ssee: lessee ssey: odyssey ssi: lassi ssie: lassie ssy: sissy sy: hypocrisy xe: tuxedo xi: taxi xie: pixie xy: boxy (30 spellings) I can only conclude that all of us who have to write English, especially those of us who make our livings in the language industries, deserve a meddle, dammit, I mean medal for putting up with this chaos.Source : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
Nombre de consultations : 1 065
Wordsleuth (2008, volume 5, 1): Status quo
Katherine Barber (Language Update, Volume 5, Number 1, 2008, page 33) A while ago one of our eager correspondents inquired why no plural form is given for the word status in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, he went on, gives the plural as statuses which, he said, "sounds ridiculous and would make it the only Latin derivative with an es ending. As far as I am concerned I consider the plural to be stati and I would like to know why this is not in the dictionary." The word status is not given a plural because it is a regular noun; we do not give plurals for regular nouns (forming the plural in -s or -es if ending in a sibilant) to save space and because this is something that English native speakers can intuitively do. Status has been in the English language since the late 17th century. It has been consistently printed in roman rather than italic type, indicating that it is fully naturalized, since the mid-19th century. Fully naturalized words in English usually form their plurals according to English rules rather than according to the rules of the language from which they were borrowed (otherwise we would talk about the stamina of a flower rather than its stamens). The OED entry for the word, which would have been edited in about 1910-15, gave the plural "(rare) status," pronounced "stay tee us," since the plural in Latin is, surprisingly, status (with a long u) rather than the regular masculine plural in -i. I am not sure on what the OED editors based this pronouncement because there is in fact no evidence of the word being used in the plural in the original OED text. The revision to the Supplement to the OED, edited between 1972 and 1986, states "now usu. statuses" for the plural. I think they could have said "now always statuses." Nowhere in the whole text of the OED or the huge databases of quotations that we consult is there any evidence for the plural stati being used in the English language. It must be said also that status is simply not used much in the plural. There are a number of other Latin derivatives in English ending in -us that form their plural with -es. For example: sinus chorus apparatus solar plexus rebus abacus bonus arbutus lotus impetus fetus hiatus census consensus virus campus crocus circus hibiscus discus exodus genius callus isthmus ignoramus anus and all the dinosaurs When you get right down to it, even bus and plus are Latin words ending in -us, and yet no one says "Three bi drove past" (or writes to dictionary editors complaining that we should)! There are many more such words where English speakers can choose between -es and -i but where -es is more common, such as thesaurus, focus, etc. (If you feel you "ought" to say "thesauri," get over it.) English is English; Latin is Latin. Surprisingly, they are not the same language!Source : Favourite Articles (la langue anglaise vue par des langagiers)
Nombre de consultations : 1 004