[PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Horst.H.von.Brand]

From: Horst H. von Brand <vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl>

Result of a run of aspell(1) over the *.txt files in Documentation. Also
fixed several other typoes.

Signed-off-by: Horst H. von Brand <vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl>
---

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Jakub Narebski]

Horst.H.von.Brand@inf.utfsm.cl wrote:

> From: Horst H. von Brand <vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl>
> 
> Result of a run of aspell(1) over the *.txt files in Documentation. Also
> fixed several other typoes.

Some of them (behavior vs. behaviour) are just the difference between
American nad British English. And couldn't do that all in _one_ patch?

-- 
Jakub Narebski
Warsaw, Poland

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Junio C Hamano]

Thanks.

Most do not seem to be typoes, depending on where you learned
the language (XYZour vs XYZor; ok, Ok, and OK; ie vs i.e.).  I
favour the latter two changes myself, but honestly, I do not
deeply care that much.  The rest are real typos.

It seems that 1/27 did not make here, nor either of the two big
mailing list archives (gmane and marc).

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Horst von Brand]

Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> Most do not seem to be typoes, depending on where you learned
> the language (XYZour vs XYZor; ok, Ok, and OK; ie vs i.e.).  I
> favour the latter two changes myself, but honestly, I do not
> deeply care that much.  The rest are real typos.
> 
> It seems that 1/27 did not make here, nor either of the two big
> mailing list archives (gmane and marc).

Just resent it alone.
-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                   User #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria              +56 32 654239
Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile                Fax:  +56 32 797513

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Nikolai Weibull]

On 6/4/06, Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> Most do not seem to be typoes, depending on where you learned
> the language (XYZour vs XYZor; ok, Ok, and OK; ie vs i.e.).

Where do you write "ie" instead of "i.e."?

In Swedish, there has been a trend to remove dots from abbreviated
expressions, but it seems people are returning to use dots.
Personally, I find that dots make things a lot clearer.

  nikolai

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Andreas Ericsson]

Nikolai Weibull wrote:
> On 6/4/06, Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> 
>> Most do not seem to be typoes, depending on where you learned
>> the language (XYZour vs XYZor; ok, Ok, and OK; ie vs i.e.).
> 
> 
> Where do you write "ie" instead of "i.e."?
> 

Mailing lists, online conversations, tech docs written in code 
editors... Compare with online'ish abbrevs (afaict, iirc, imo, fyi).

> In Swedish, there has been a trend to remove dots from abbreviated
> expressions, but it seems people are returning to use dots.
> Personally, I find that dots make things a lot clearer.
> 

Swedish has lots of abbreviations where one "part" of the abbreviation 
consists of multiple characters, like t.ex.

When each character of the abbrev defines one complete word dots are 
just prettiness-noise, their presence or absence decided by the gravity 
of the meaning ("R.I.P." vs "ie"). Obviously, correctness never hurts 
but this is, on two accounts, punktknulleri.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Nikolai Weibull]

On 6/5/06, Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se> wrote:
> Nikolai Weibull wrote:
> > On 6/4/06, Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> >
> >> Most do not seem to be typoes, depending on where you learned
> >> the language (XYZour vs XYZor; ok, Ok, and OK; ie vs i.e.).
> >
> > Where do you write "ie" instead of "i.e."?
> >
>
> Mailing lists, online conversations, tech docs written in code
> editors...

Do you mean that code editors usually don't let you enter a dot into
the buffer, or what?

> Compare with online'ish abbrevs (afaict, iirc, imo, fyi).

That's hardly the same thing.  Most people would upcase AFAICT, IIRC,
IMO, and FYI.

I wouldn't group "i.e." with such abbreviations in any case.  (Hehe.)

> > In Swedish, there has been a trend to remove dots from abbreviated
> > expressions, but it seems people are returning to use dots.
> > Personally, I find that dots make things a lot clearer.
>
> Swedish has lots of abbreviations where one "part" of the abbreviation
> consists of multiple characters, like t.ex.

And "bl.a.".

> When each character of the abbrev defines one complete word dots are
> just prettiness-noise, their presence or absence decided by the gravity
> of the meaning ("R.I.P." vs "ie"). Obviously, correctness never hurts
> but this is, on two accounts, punktknulleri.

Considering that people don't want to get stuck on trying to
understand what the word "ie" is supposed to mean in a manual page
they're trying to understand what some command does (this happened to
me), I really think that fucking with the dots is called for.

Anyway, the general guidelines recommended by "The Chicago Manual of Style" are:

Use periods with abbreviations that appear in lowercase letters; use
no periods with abbreviations that appear in full capitals or small
capitals, whether two letters or more.

One possible solution is to expand "i.e." to "that is" (or something
equally befitting) and "e.g." to "for example", "such as", or similar.

  nikolai

Re: [PATCH 0/27] Documentation: Spelling fixes

[Andreas Ericsson]

Nikolai Weibull wrote:
> On 6/5/06, Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se> wrote:
> 
>> Nikolai Weibull wrote:
>> > On 6/4/06, Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Most do not seem to be typoes, depending on where you learned
>> >> the language (XYZour vs XYZor; ok, Ok, and OK; ie vs i.e.).
>> >
>> > Where do you write "ie" instead of "i.e."?
>> >
>>
>> Mailing lists, online conversations, tech docs written in code
>> editors...
> 
> 
> Do you mean that code editors usually don't let you enter a dot into
> the buffer, or what?
> 

No, I mean that people are lazy when writing online and for an audience 
that broadly share the same sort of text-digesting mind, so they don't 
bother with the dots.

>> Compare with online'ish abbrevs (afaict, iirc, imo, fyi).
> 
> 
> That's hardly the same thing.


Why not? Both are examples of one-letter-per-word abbreviations.


>  Most people would upcase AFAICT, IIRC,
> IMO, and FYI.
> 

True, but both forms are common enough. I guess I'm one of the lazier 
ones, since I regularly use lower-case.

> I wouldn't group "i.e." with such abbreviations in any case.  (Hehe.)
> 

I fail to see why not. I also fail to care very much, so feel free not 
to respond. ;)

> 
>> When each character of the abbrev defines one complete word dots are
>> just prettiness-noise, their presence or absence decided by the gravity
>> of the meaning ("R.I.P." vs "ie"). Obviously, correctness never hurts
>> but this is, on two accounts, punktknulleri.
> 
> 
> Considering that people don't want to get stuck on trying to
> understand what the word "ie" is supposed to mean in a manual page
> they're trying to understand what some command does (this happened to
> me), I really think that fucking with the dots is called for.
> 
> Anyway, the general guidelines recommended by "The Chicago Manual of 
> Style" are:
> 
> Use periods with abbreviations that appear in lowercase letters; use
> no periods with abbreviations that appear in full capitals or small
> capitals, whether two letters or more.
> 
> One possible solution is to expand "i.e." to "that is" (or something
> equally befitting) and "e.g." to "for example", "such as", or similar.
> 

This is most likely the best solution as it's easier for foreign readers 
with limited proficiency in reading english and english abbreviations 
borrowed from latin, as they don't make sense if you try to put in 
english words matching the abbreviation, dots or no dots.  This gave me 
quite a headache when I was twelve and tried to install Linux for the 
first time :)

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231