From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Lawrence Mitchell Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#1476: 23.0.60; spelling of (un)writeable should be (un)writable Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:00:36 +0000 Message-ID: <20081203140036.GA20792@lamacq.ph.ed.ac.uk> References: <001601c954d2$1362b0b0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> <007701c9554d$1a7619c0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> Reply-To: Lawrence Mitchell , 1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1228313439 31173 80.91.229.12 (3 Dec 2008 14:10:39 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:10:39 +0000 (UTC) Cc: 1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com To: Drew Adams Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Dec 03 15:11:44 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 1L7sS2-0000GM-0D for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:11:38 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:35238 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L7sQp-00009v-Ft for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:23 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L7sQk-00007x-1m for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:18 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L7sQi-00005J-Ds for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:17 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=45969 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L7sQi-00005A-5c for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:16 -0500 Original-Received: from rzlab.ucr.edu ([138.23.92.77]:54716) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L7sQh-0006C7-K4 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:15 -0500 Original-Received: from rzlab.ucr.edu (rzlab.ucr.edu [127.0.0.1]) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id mB3EADIa004474; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 06:10:13 -0800 Original-Received: (from debbugs@localhost) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id mB3EA4gp003810; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 06:10:04 -0800 X-Loop: don@donarmstrong.com Resent-From: Lawrence Mitchell Resent-To: bug-submit-list@donarmstrong.com Resent-CC: Emacs Bugs Resent-Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:10:04 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: don@donarmstrong.com X-Emacs-PR-Message: report 1476 X-Emacs-PR-Package: emacs X-Emacs-PR-Keywords: Original-Received: via spool by 1476-submit@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com id=B1476.12283128471552 (code B ref 1476); Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:10:04 +0000 Original-Received: (at 1476) by emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com; 3 Dec 2008 14:00:47 +0000 Original-Received: from nougat.ucs.ed.ac.uk (nougat.ucs.ed.ac.uk [129.215.13.205]) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id mB3E0ekT001544 for <1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com>; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 06:00:42 -0800 Original-Received: from wrath.ph.ed.ac.uk (wrath.ph.ed.ac.uk [129.215.73.7]) by nougat.ucs.ed.ac.uk (8.13.8/8.13.4) with ESMTP id mB3E0bQB018615; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:00:39 GMT Original-Received: from lamacq.ph.ed.ac.uk (lamacq.ph.ed.ac.uk [129.215.72.156]) by wrath.ph.ed.ac.uk (8.13.8/8.12.10) with ESMTP id mB3E0bIu001511; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:00:37 GMT Original-Received: from lamacq.ph.ed.ac.uk (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by lamacq.ph.ed.ac.uk (8.13.8/8.12.10) with ESMTP id mB3E0bJ0031298; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:00:37 GMT Original-Received: (from s0198183@localhost) by lamacq.ph.ed.ac.uk (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id mB3E0are031297; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:00:36 GMT Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <007701c9554d$1a7619c0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) X-Edinburgh-Scanned: at nougat.ucs.ed.ac.uk with MIMEDefang 2.60, Sophie, Sophos Anti-Virus, Clam AntiVirus X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.60 on 129.215.13.205 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) Resent-Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:10:17 -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:22900 Archived-At: Drew Adams wrote: >>> Emacs manual, node Directory Variables. >>> Please change "unwriteable" to "unwritable". >>> Not very important, since this is just an invented name in >>> an example, but it can lead users to think that's the spelling >>> and thus to look for such a term in the future. Googling shows >>> that similar bugs have been logged for Scheme, Python, man >>> pages, and elsewhere. >> FWIW the OED says both are fine: writable, a. Also writeable. > English has no equivalent of l'Academie Francaise, and that includes > the OED. Of this I am well aware, however, the OED's quotations for both forms do not have writeable as an obsolete variant. > It's about general usage, in practice. Whether "both are fine" is > really beside the point. There are lots of English expressions that > are fine or that are used in some contexts by some people, but which > if used generally will get you stares of incomprehensibility most of > the time. > "writeable" is relatively little used, If you're willing to believe that the internet is a reasonable corpus, this is not a true statement: ~ 1e6 results for writeable ~ 3e6 results for writable Emacs should certainly standardise on one or other of the two variants, but it's not as obviously clearcut as you make out. Lawrence -- Lawrence Mitchell