Ebook, eBook or e-book?

[hidari]

I guess for speaking in English and other languages; but some languages there is no spacingbetweenwords;forexampleinjapanese. Even when I type romanji to a friend I never space between words and they have no problem understanding it. It just takes time to get used too...

IE. Latin had no spacing between words... So the Romans would say email.....

Originally Posted by plantedbypiggies

Personally, I prefer e-book, but that's because it follows broadcasting reading practices. I read a lot of stuff on air at the radio station I work at. The dash makes it easier for me to pronounce. I can understand the apple "iBefore everything" hook as a marketing scheme, but it does kind of irk me when I've got to read about such a product on the air.

[plantedbypiggies]

Originally Posted by hidari

I guess for speaking in English and other languages; but some languages there is no spacingbetweenwords;forexampleinjapanese. Even when I type romanji to a friend I never space between words and they have no problem understanding it. It just takes time to get used too...

IE. Latin had no spacing between words... So the Romans would say email.....

Of course for English. I'm sure Japanese has its own broadcast writing standards. Latin's a dead language for all intents and purposes, so that's kind of a moot point. All Latin based languages these days (French, Spanish, etc.) follow English style spacing styles.

[llasram]

Originally Posted by hidari

IE. Latin had no spacing between words... So the Romans would say email.....

I can't speak for Asian languages, but in European languages innovations like interword separation, miniscule letter-forms, and rich punctuation sets greatly increased legibility. IWOULDHATETOREADTEXTLIKETHISALLDAY.ITWOULDPROBABLY DRIVEMEQUITEQUITEMAD.

So “e-book” for me. :-)

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by plantedbypiggies

Latin's a dead language for all intents and purposes, so that's kind of a moot point.

Latin's a dead language,
As dead as it can be.
First it killed the Romans,
Now it's after me.
-- unknown

[Richard Herley]

Dead? If you speak English, you use it every day!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

Dead? If you speak English, you use it every day!

or if you speak french, too...

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Richard Herley

Dead? If you speak English, you use it every day!

Heh, English doesn't so much borrow words from other languages as it waits 'til they get drunk, lures them down dark allies, knocks them on the head and goes through their pockets for loose vocabulary.

Wish I could remember who it was that said that originally.

[Madam Broshkina]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Heh, English doesn't so much borrow words from other languages as it waits 'til they get drunk, lures them down dark allies, knocks them on the head and goes through their pockets for loose vocabulary.

Wish I could remember who it was that said that originally.

I believe the quote came from Booker T. Washington.

[Cthulhu]

Personally, regarding crazy grammar-word formations, one cannot beat German. Dang! Just forgot that milch-cow-big-combine dealie word. In German one would request the toolforturningthreadedotherdevices. In English, I say "hey, hand me that wrench."

Seriously. The device we use that replicates a book is a book. Since it is "electronic," and Americans love to abbreviate words, said device is an "E(lectronic)book." Foucalt and Derrida might have something to say about naming a device a "reader."

'Course, I'm a sentient squid from another dimension. What do I know?

[brecklundin]

LQQK!! It's an eBQQK...

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Madam Broshkina

I believe the quote came from Booker T. Washington.

Excellent! Yes, thank you, Madam.

With your help, I found the original statement:

We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

Amusingly enough, the first Google result on the search was this very thread.

[Nate the great]

It's not Booker T Washington. You first heard it from me, on this forum. I was quoting James D. Nicoll:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow
words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways
to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

You first heard it from me, on this forum.

'fraid not, Nate.

I've heard that quote tossed around many years before I met you.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I was quoting James D. Nicoll:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow
words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways
to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

Mr. Nicoll apparently did say it too, but since he wasn't born until 1961, and Mr. Washington died in 1915, I think he probably has prior claim to it.

Unless of course someone knows definitively that Mr. Washington didn't say it ... I certainly don't know of my own knowledge either way.

[astra]

here we go...

[Nate the great]

This quote has also been mis-attributed to a number of other people, including Mark Twain. Can you find an original source for the quote?