18 Apr
1999
18 Apr
'99
7:14 a.m.
Yes, I've always thought the eccentricities of language quite
fascinating. The contrast between some British spellings and
pronunciation as an example. And really on target, as speech is really
the OS for an organic computing engine, over 10 years old.
I tend to see Vaxen more than Vaxes, but variant forms simply add a note
of interest. As far as -n goes, IT is ancient, and it doesn't matter how
new the root is. I've always thought that unusual plural added a touch
of class to the DEC line, even if it might be a bit precious.
On Sun, 18 Apr 1999, Huw Davies wrote:
At 09:19 17/04/99 -0400, Merle K. Peirce wrote:
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
215 Shady Lea Road,
North Kingstown, RI 02852
"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
If you want to follow tradition, a VAX would be
neuter, because plurals
in -n are old Anglo-Saxon neuter forms.
That's assuming that you think the plural of VAX is VAXen, I'm a VAXes
person myself. There's also an argument that the plural should be spelt
VAXs. As a modern acronym you can't really apply traditional rules for the
plural(eg, VAX becomes VAXen because OX becomes OXen), it's just a matter
of accepted usage. No wimping out here by using expressions like "VAX
computers" either.
I feel that this discussion is more on-topic that most of those that we've
had recently. One of the things I've learnt is that people from different
parts of the world use English very differently and sometimes leads to
misunderstandings. One I remember well was an Australian DECUS presentation
where the (female) Digital engineer was talking about DZ-11s (this wasn't
either Allison or Megan was it?). After pronouncing it correctly (as far as
English/Australian audience were concerned where Z is pronounced zed) she
finally admitted that this felt so pretentious that it would be zee from
now on! I'd been around quite a while before I realized that in America EZ
sounds like easy....
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)latrobe.edu.au
Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"