Re: [boost] [Boost.Local] Review

Subject: Re: [boost] [Boost.Local] Review
From: Leo Goodstadt (bunbun68_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-11-23 05:24:53

> John Bytheway <jbytheway+boost <at> gmail.com> writes:
> >
> > On 19/11/11 20:39, Brent Spillner wrote:
> > > On Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:59:26 lorcaminiti wrote:
> > >>> The title is spelt wrong (should be Acknowledgements)
> > > Actually, "Acknowledgments" is the traditionally correct spelling.
> > > There are some dictionaries that accept "Acknowledgement," but this
> > > reads as faddish and less literate. Â A similar word is "judgment"---
> > > both are frequently misspelled even by native speakers.
>
> BTW, I grew up spelling both as "acknowledgement" and "judgement". Online
> sources seem to indicate that in Britain those spellings are the norm while in
> the US the 'e' after 'g' is usually dropped. But I was born and raised here in
> the US so what gives? Given that my first name is "Geoff" (English spelling) and
> not "Jeff" (American spelling) the confusion is readily apparent?

This is where the Oxford English Dictionary with all its historical
citations comes
in handy.

For "acknowledgment" / "acknowledgement": both spellings started out in the
16th c. but the first form historically was found more in the US. Citations
from the 19th and 20th c show that both variants are found on both sides
of the Atlantic (e.g. the short form in the UK in Dickens, Bronte, Macaulay)
though the long form seems to predominate in the 20c only in U.K.
newspapers.

For "judgement" / "judgment": judgement seems slightly more consistent
etymologically (with the Old French/Norman "iugement"?). This may be why
it seems to be preferred by the OED. However, both forms are equally old,
and >80% of the modern citations have the *short* form not the
long form, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Conclusion: Spell these words however you want!

Hope that clears thing up.

Leo