23 Mar
2009
23 Mar
'09
5:19 p.m.
On Mon, 23 Mar 2009, feedle wrote:
The words "solid state laser",
uncapitalized, even if it may offend you,
is now (in 2009) perfectly acceptable written English. Unless your
deLorean is going 88 MPH, it is arguably you who is doing it wrong by
insisting it's an acronym. It may have originally been one: it is now
an actual word.
Nope.
That may, indeed, be the OPINION of lexicographers. And I do not question
that you are accurately stating it.
However, those of us who were using the word BEFORE it changed can not be
forced to use the "modern" form.
Same goes for the word "hacker".
Like it or not, under unwritten common law, we are "grandfathered" in.
And we are stubborn. You can quote all of the young whippersnappers that
you want, but as George Burns once said, "At my age it is hard to have
respect for authority; since, after all, even the judge is just some young
punk." (or something like that)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com