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 05:43:19 -0800 Message-ID: <007701c9554d$1a7619c0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> References: <001601c954d2$1362b0b0$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 1228312259 26665 80.91.229.12 (3 Dec 2008 13:50:59 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:50:59 +0000 (UTC) Cc: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: "'Lawrence Mitchell'" , <1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com>, Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Dec 03 14:52:03 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 1L7s8b-0000mh-Ra for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:51:34 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:53266 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L7s7R-0001l1-3y for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:50:21 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L7s7N-0001ks-6Q for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:50:17 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L7s7M-0001ka-MM for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:50:16 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=49535 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L7s7M-0001kO-AO for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:50:16 -0500 Original-Received: from rzlab.ucr.edu ([138.23.92.77]:54850) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L7s7L-0003su-KJ for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:50:15 -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 mB3DoDOs031409; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 05:50:13 -0800 Original-Received: (from debbugs@localhost) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id mB3Do5er030629; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 05:50:05 -0800 X-Loop: don@donarmstrong.com Resent-From: "Drew Adams" Resent-To: bug-submit-list@donarmstrong.com Resent-CC: Emacs Bugs Resent-Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:50:05 +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=B1476.122831180529159 (code B ref 1476); Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:50:05 +0000 Original-Received: (at 1476) by emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com; 3 Dec 2008 13:43:25 +0000 Original-Received: from acsinet12.oracle.com (acsinet12.oracle.com [141.146.126.234]) by rzlab.ucr.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id mB3DhMwn029146 for <1476@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com>; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 05:43:23 -0800 Original-Received: from rgminet15.oracle.com (rcsinet15.oracle.com [148.87.113.117]) by acsinet12.oracle.com (Switch-3.3.1/Switch-3.3.1) with ESMTP id mB3DgvhR020020 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:42:58 GMT Original-Received: from acsmt705.oracle.com (acsmt705.oracle.com [141.146.40.83]) by rgminet15.oracle.com (Switch-3.3.1/Switch-3.3.1) with ESMTP id mB3DhJ8k005863; Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:43:20 GMT Original-Received: from dradamslap1 (/141.144.168.82) by default (Oracle Beehive Gateway v4.0) with ESMTP ; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:43:11 -0800 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 Thread-Index: AclVN+pYPps7m1paRXenU9MYylnjjQAE02zA X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3350 In-Reply-To: X-Source-IP: acsmt705.oracle.com [141.146.40.83] X-Auth-Type: Internal IP X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A090209.49368CF1.00F3:SCFSTAT928724,ss=1,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 3) Resent-Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:50:16 -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:22899 gmane.emacs.pretest.bugs:23450 Archived-At: > > 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. 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, which means that users who go looking for matches for "writeable" will generally be handicapped wrt what they find. Please see the bugs I referenced for other software, or google for yourself, to see how others are handling this. Again, maybe everyone in the world is wrong, but it's about helping users find what they need. Google, BTW, is smart enough to return "writable" hits for a "writeable" query, but grep, Emacs search, etc. are less forgiving. Again though, not the most important bug.