From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:47096) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QEpLN-0002Yx-Dq for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:58:50 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QEpLM-0000pc-0m for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:58:49 -0400 Received: from moutng.kundenserver.de ([212.227.126.187]:59251) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QEpLL-0000pT-LF for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:58:47 -0400 Message-ID: <4DB731FD.6030107@mail.berlios.de> Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:58:37 +0200 From: Stefan Weil MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <1303806576-10286-1-git-send-email-weil@mail.berlios.de> <201104261904.13291.marten@xtal.rwth-aachen.de> <4DB7005E.5040006@mail.berlios.de> In-Reply-To: <4DB7005E.5040006@mail.berlios.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [Qemu-devel] [Qemu-trivial] [PATCH] Fix typo in code and comments List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , To: QEMU Developers Cc: Stefan Hajnoczi Am 26.04.2011 19:26, schrieb Stefan Weil: > Am 26.04.2011 19:04, schrieb Jan Marten Simons: >> Am Dienstag 26 April 2011 11:25:58 schrieb Stefan Hajnoczi: >>> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Stefan Weil >>> wrote: >>>> Replace writeable -> writable >>> >>> Why make this change? writeable and writable are both commonly used >>> spellings. >> >> It seems like "writeable" is the commonly used term in computer >> sciences and >> "writable" is the normal english adjective formed from "to write" + >> "-able" in >> general English.[1] >> >> As we are refering to computer science related "writeable" it should >> be left >> as is imho. But as I'm no native speaker, you might feel different on >> this. >> On a side note: Samba offers both spellings as valid for thier >> configuration >> files. [2] >> >> [1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/writeable >> [2] http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=22258.0 >> >> With regards, >> >> Dipl. Phys. >> Jan M. Simons >> >> Institute of Crystallography >> RWTH Aachen University > > Commonly used is not necessarily correct. > > The Oxford dictionary only accepts writable (even when I select > american english). Same result with Merriam-Webster. > Google suggests writable instead of writeable. > > I see "writeable" only in computer programs and related contexts, > therefore I assume that it is simply a very common spelling error > contributed by non-native speakers (like myself). Interesting > detail: The spelling checker of my mailing client (Icedove) marks > writeable as correct and writable as wrong (which is obviously wrong). > Maybe I should send a bug report to Debian. > > The ratio of writeable:writable in unpatched qemu is 37:47. > Even if both writings were correct, I might argue that a > uniform spelling is better and choose the form which is more commonly > used. > > Let's improve the spelling for computer programs a little bit! Debian's myspell-en-gb is wrong, so I just sent a bug report: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=624249 Several other spelling lists included in Debian are correct, e.g. hunspell-en-us, iamerican, ibritish, aspell-en. Here is a list from a native (american) speaker with common spelling bugs: http://marvin.cs.uidaho.edu/misspell.html It also includes "writeable". Cheers, Stefan W.