Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!gerry From: gerry@geac.UUCP (Gerry Singleton) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: superCedes and superSedes (was Re: New Map Files - Latest PATHALIAS/NETNEWS versions required) Keywords: Dictionary Message-ID: <1995@geac.UUCP> Date: 20 Dec 87 18:18:01 GMT Article-I.D.: geac.1995 Posted: Sun Dec 20 13:18:01 1987 References: <8711241022.AA12529@RUTGERS.EDU> <21871@lll-tis.arpa> <3622@hoptoad.uucp> <1034@maynard.BSW.COM> Organization: GEAC Computers, Toronto, CANADA Lines: 73 | From: campbell@maynard.BSW.COM (Larry Campbell) | Newsgroups: news.admin | Message-ID: <1034@maynard.BSW.COM> | Date: 15 Dec 87 04:02:34 GMT | References: <8711241022.AA12529@RUTGERS.EDU> <21871@lll-tis.arpa> <3622@hoptoad.uucp> | Reply-To: campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell) | Followup-To: poster | Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc. | Lines: 30 | Posted: Mon Dec 14 23:02:34 1987 | | In article <3622@hoptoad.uucp> sunny@hoptoad.UUCP (Sunny Kirsten) writes: | <>My dictionary shows that superCedes and superSedes are aliases for | <>each other. | | You should get a new dictionary. There is no `c' in supersede. | The word comes from the Latin verb `supersedere', "to sit above", | from `super-' "above" and `sedere' "to sit" (whence also comes | `sedentary'). People who spell supersede with `c' are probably | victims of what is known as "folk etymology" -- confusing the root | for supersede with the root for intercede (which root is `cedere', | "to go"). | | <> Since this is typical of english, it will be typical | <>of those who speak english. In acknowledgment of actual usage, | <>the software ought to accept BOTH spellings. The computer should | <>adapt to the nature of humans. | | If you mean it's typical that English speakers don't know how to spell | their own language, yes, this is true, but it is also unfortunate and | not be encouraged. (Apology to British readers -- I suspect most of the | violence to English is done by Americans.) | | If people are confusing the words `cedere' and `sedere', the proper | solution is not to wish their ignorance out of existence by declaring | that the words are identical -- which would be a lie -- but to point | out the distinction to them, enriching them thereby. | -- | Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc. | Internet: campbell@maynard.bsw.com 120 Fulton Street, Boston MA 02109 | uucp: {husc6,mirror,think}!maynard!campbell +1 617 367 6846 Nice try Larry, but if you castigate in public, expect response in public. Vis-a-vis your comment on the quality of Sonny's dictionary. Your dictionary may have a more recent publication date it is certainly inferior to the one Sonny uses. To clarify, I quote from my copy of the Oxford English Dictionary (1971) : SUPERSEDE, v, Forms: 5-9 supercede, (6 Sc. ceid, 6-7 -sead, -e, Sc. 6-7 -seid, 7-cid, -seed), 6- supersede . . . SUPERCEDE, v, Var of supersede, (now erron.) Are both there, yes. Do you owe Sonny a public apology, again I think yes. Your words were a tad strong. Because both are considered valid, I must also agree with Sonny that both spellings must be accomodated in the software. I draw this conclusion from reading the tiny print in my OED which indicates that, although SUPERSEDE has replaced SUPERCEDE as the preferred spelling, this change has occurred only in the past twenty years. Therfore, if both are not accomodated, a great number of network users will be placed in an awkward position. After all, software is flexible while people are not. -- G. Roderick Singleton | "ALL animals are created equal, , | BUT some animals are MORE or , | equal than others." or | warning by George Orwell, "1984"