On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:27:23 +1030, Malcolm Kay <malcolm....@internode.on.net> wrote: > An arbitrary convention adopted by you and a few other people > does not invalidate the dictionary spellings and usage.
As I mentioned before, the (hard) disk vs. (optical) disc differentiation seems to be quite german-specific, allthough older IBM material of the mainframe era refers to "disks" when talking about DASD, and "disk packs" in general. The topic "External Disc Drive" would, according to what I have learned, usually refer to an external CD or DVD drive, while an "external disk drive", or more precise an "external hard disk drive" would describe a hard disk. > My Australian (Macquarie) dictionary gives the spelling in all > cases as "disc" but recognises "disk" as a chiefly US variant. > My Conscise Oxford (English) dictionary simply gives the two > spellings as alternatives but states that "disk" is the better. > My Webster's (American) gives the two forms as alternatives > without suggesting any preference. Of course different editions > of the dictionaries may give slightly different slants but are > most unlikely to actually contradict these possibly earlier > views. That's interesting to know. I like to learn new things from this list, even when it's about correct spelling. > I find your distinctions arbitrary and quite inappropriate; > again not meaning to sound impolite. I have to apologize that I grew up in my "IT career" with exactly the interpretation I mentioned. Furthermore, it seems to be very common in Germany, as well as the usage of "disk" for any kind of hard disk, as illustrated by the FreeBSD handbook. > So, each to his/her own > usage but please do not be critical of those of us not > conforming to your arbirary conventions. Malcolm, I will keep this in mind. As soon as someone asks questions about "/etc folders" and "IDE controllers", I will be back. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
