From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs,gmane.emacs.pretest.bugs Subject: bug#1476: 23.0.60; spelling of (un)writeable should be (un)writable Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:03:07 -0800 Message-ID: <007a01c95558$417a31e0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> References: <001601c954d2$1362b0b0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> <007701c9554d$1a7619c0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> Reply-To: Drew Adams , 1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1228317032 13185 80.91.229.12 (3 Dec 2008 15:10:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 15:10:32 +0000 (UTC) Cc: 'Lawrence Mitchell' , bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org To: "'Juanma Barranquero'" , <1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com> Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Dec 03 16:11:35 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1L7tO3-00015R-0G for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; 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Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:02:58 -0800 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 Thread-Index: AclVULNC5UB7lL98RkGusz+x9mHKkwAAWP3w X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3350 In-Reply-To: X-Source-IP: acsmt700.oracle.com [141.146.40.70] X-Auth-Type: Internal IP X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A010201.49369FA4.00DB:SCFSTAT928724,ss=1,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 1) X-CrossAssassin-Score: 2 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) Resent-Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:10:17 -0500 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:22903 gmane.emacs.pretest.bugs:23452 Archived-At: > > It's about general usage, in practice. Whether "both are > > fine" is really beside the point. > > Googling for "writable -writeable" gets about 2,6 Mhits, while > "writeable -writable" gets around 0,9 Mhits. Fewer, but still sizable. Yes, and googling for "labour -labor" gets 56.4 million, versus 173 million for "labor -labour". Only about three to one. But Emacs has standardized on American spelling. American usage generally drops a final "e" when adding suffix "able". Here is a bit from the Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage: -eable This ending is really a composite of the final e of a root word and the -able suffix. It is a matter of necessity for some words, and of choice for others. It is the necessary ending for words such as changeable and traceable, because -eable serves to preserve the "j" or "s" sounnd in them (see -ce/-ge). But for others such as lik(e)able, liv(e)able, siz(e)able and us(e)able, it's possible to use either -eable or just -able. Broadly speaking, the Oxford Dictionary tradition maintains the first spelling (except for usable), while American English (Webster's 1986) is squarely behind the second. It is more in line with the major rule over dropping fine e (see e)... For more of the quote: http://books.google.com/books?id=nV8h0gnU1UEC&pg=RA1-PA237&lpg=RA1-PA237&dq=suff ix+eable+able+spelling&source=web&ots=ztUmc45nwi&sig=YnjusFpRwdJo9_eQm8aCPrlBheo &hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result > I don't think anyone has trouble understanding "writeable". No, of course not. That's not the point.