How to spell 'lens'

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Richard C said:
If you go back about 200 years then English English and American English were the same.

During the latter half of the nineteenth century some words in English became sort of 'frenchified' i.e. color became colour and autumn became the fall.

This happened to surnames as well. My favourite is the people whose surname was previously Death found that it was much posher if they stuck an apostrophe in the middle and became De'ath.
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That would be because French is an official language in England, and has been ever since King Harold dropped the ball. This is why the 'upper classes' are all fluent in French, whereas the rest of us only learn the essentials such as 'Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir', and 'Un bier sil vous plait '.
 
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Is one of those Texas Nikon dealers betteroffblu? She ripped me off a couple of years ago -- I sent back a damaged lens (no e) and never got the refund -- $200.

This is a fun thread -- had this been taking place on one of Stephen Gandy's lists he would have shut down this basically off-topic discussion a long time ago.
 
Anybody thought of an acrostichon?

L - is for love
E - is for expensive
N - is for never-ending
S - is for squander

Jesko

____________________

2006 AD
800 yrs Dresden
80 yrs Zeiss Ikon
 
markinlondon said:
Let's just not get started on sulphur
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Actually, the official worldwide (and that includes British English!) spelling of "sulphur" is "sulfur" - has been for a couple of decades, as decreed by IUPAC, chemistry's worldwide ruling body on spelling and such ... and the latter is used in most modern British-English chemistry books.

You Americans can stop smirking, as IUPAC has also decreed that "aluminum" should be spelt* "aluminium" in all countries!

And if I found "lense" in any manuscript that crossed my desk, it'd get the red pen treatment!

<rant>

Whilst (while...) we're grumbling, it's** "strait laced" not "straight laced" (and I don't care that the latter has 500,000 Google hits compared with 200,000. That reminds me, usually "compare with" not "compare to" should be used (the latter means something is like something else).

*Many Brits don't use "spelled", although it's not wrong!

**Why can't people get the hang of apostrophes? It's not difficult - really, it's not! :bang:

***What's this "fora" some use? It's "forums" in this context; "fora" are ancient Roman meeting places.

</rant>

Still, the English in RFF posts is definitely higher calibre (British spelling!) than other forums** I belong to (DPreview - good grief!)

-=Rich=-
(A chemist and a copy editor)
 
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Two things that bother meare:

Split infinitives: e.g. "To boldly go where no man has gone before."

(In spoken English) "there's" when used with a plural: "there's too many people here." No! "There ARE too many people here."

copake_ham said:
I didn't intend this to start another Civil War (or, as you would put it, War Between the States) :D
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I once heard an elderly former school teacher correct someone who referred to this war as the "civil war." She said: "Young man, Ah believe you mean the Great Yankee war of Northern agression; and there was nothing civil about it."

Kevin
 
Theo-Prof said:
Two things that bother meare:

Split infinitives: e.g. "To boldly go where no man has gone before."
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I hear this often but I don't know what that means nor the correct grammar.

In "Past through tomorrow" R.A. Heinlein bemoans the use of "split infinitives", too.

So please, enlighten me!
 
Socke said:
I hear this often but I don't know what that means nor the correct grammar.

In "Past through tomorrow" R.A. Heinlein bemoans the use of "split infinitives", too.

So please, enlighten me!
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To split an infinitive is to place a modifier between "to" and the verb. The famous Star Trek line ought to be: "To go boldly . . " or "Boldly to go . . ."
 
Theo-Prof said:
To split an infinitive is to place a modifier between "to" and the verb. The famous Star Trek line ought to be: "To go boldly . . " or "Boldly to go . . ."
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But it doesn't sound as good the correct way.
 
MacCaulay said:
One that I find amusing is the US 'Could give a damn' and the UK 'Couldn't give a damn' - semantically similar, but gramatically in diametric opposition.
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It is funny, isn't it... but only one is correct, Jenni!
 
And if 'sulfur' is preferred to 'sulphur', are we in fact, fotografers, taking fotografs with our rangephinders?
 
MacCaulay said:
One that I find amusing is the US 'Could give a damn' and the UK 'Couldn't give a damn' - semantically similar, but gramatically in diametric opposition.
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Ah but. Isn't the American version used in the context of "like I could give a damn" rather than "I could give a damn"?

Frankly my dear...
 
BrianShaw said:
It is funny, isn't it... but only one is correct, Jenni!
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True. Ours.
To say you could give a damn means you care. To say you couldn't give a damn means you don't care.

It is the same with could and couldn't care less.

If I say 'I couldn't care less' means exactly that, I care so little it is not possible for me to care any less.
 
Andy K said:
True. Ours.
To say you could give a damn means you care. To say you couldn't give a damn means you don't care.

It is the same with could and couldn't care less.

If I say 'I couldn't care less' means exactly that, I care so little it is not possible for me to care any less.
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The US version "I could give a damn" is implicitly sarcastic/ironic.
 
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