On 7/7/07 1:06 PM, in article
[email protected], "Michael Press"
<
[email protected]> wrote:
> The clowns a CN cannot spell minuscule.
> They have no chance of pronouncing
> it correctly. Incompetent lameohs.
> And if they did know how to pronounce
> it, they would never misspell it.
> Did somebody burn all the dictionaries
> while my back was turned?
> Hire somebody who knows English.
Not to mention:
Main Entry: min·is·cule
Pronunciation: 'mi-n&s-"kyül
variant of MINUSCULE
usage: The adjective minuscule is etymologically related to minus, but
associations with mini- have produced the spelling variant miniscule. This
variant dates to the end of the 19th century, and it now occurs commonly in
published writing, but it continues to be widely regarded as an error.
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/miniscule
And
http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/mini.html:
In "Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage" (1989), part of the entry
"miniscule, minuscule," notes:
"This spelling [miniscule] was first recorded at the end of the 19th century
(minuscule dates back to 1705), but it did not begin to appear frequently in
edited prose until the 1940s. Its increasingly common use parallels the
increasingly common use of the word itself, especially as an adjective
meaning `very small.' "
During the last half of the 20th century, dictionary lines have been adding
"miniscule." A telling case comes with the "Concise Oxford" dictionaries.
The Eighth Edition, published in the mid-1980s, does have an entry for
"miniscule," but labels it as "erroneous." However the "Concise Oxford
Dictionary," Ninth Edition (1995) lists "miniscule" as simply a "variant"
spelling.
The "American Heritage Dictionary," Third Edition (1992) gives "miniscule"
as a full-fledged variant of "minuscule," as does "Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary," Tenth Edition (1993). Merriam-Webster's has been
listing "miniscule" in their dictionaries since at least 1971.
"The Random House Unabridged Dictionary," Second Edition (1987) lists
"miniscule" as a variant, with a usage note stating that while "this newer
spelling is criticized by many, it occurs with such frequency in edited
writing that some consider it a variant spelling rather than a misspelling."
I am told (on an Internet newsgroup) that "Macquarie's Australian
Dictionary," Second Edition lists "miniscule" as a variant spelling as well.
Also noted in the "miniscule, minuscule" entry in "Merriam- Webster's
Dictionary of English Usage" is this:
"It may be, in fact, that miniscule is now the more common form. An article
by Michael Kenney in the Boston Globe on 12 May 1985 noted that miniscule
outnumbered minuscule by three to one in that newspaper's data base.
That entry concludes with this statement on the spelling "miniscule":
"Our own view is that any spelling which occurs so commonly, year after
year, in perfectly reputable and carefully edited books and periodicals must
be regarded as a standard variant."
--
Steven L. Sheffield
stevens at veloworks dot com
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