brake disc vs brake disk

[TonyR]

....does pose the interesting question of whether it should therefore be a compact disc or disk....

is surely nonsensical; 'Compact Disc' is trademarked.

Yes of course it must be Compact Disk as someone owns the exclusive right to call it a Compact Disc

[Bicycler]

I'm all for maintaining distinctions where they are appropriate. Whilst it's (just) possible that program and programme could lead to some confusion, no-one is going to think that a post on a cycle forum referring to a 'brake disk' is on about some novel method of using a computer or other type of disk to stop a bicycle. It really isn't worth getting annoyed about.

The other thing to consider is that we cannot tell where a new poster on the forum is from or if English is their first language. Clarification may be needed, but nitpicking at what we perceive to be errors in their spelling is likely to get up some noses.

[BMB Club Secretary]

You say tomayto, I say tomahto, lets pull the discus off...

I always interpret disk as in a computer drive Vs disc as a brake component.
As I do a program of computer software Vs a programme of events.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I just Texted my mate back after he sent me a Text

[Brucey]

...The other thing to consider is that we cannot tell where a new poster on the forum is from or if English is their first language. Clarification may be needed, but nitpicking at what we perceive to be errors in their spelling is likely to get up some noses....

I agree one shouldn't assume anything. But I have noticed that a lot of people who (according to their profile) live in the UK and produce otherwise normal written british english , seeming prefer the 'disk' spelling, even though you would be hard-pushed to find any brake discs for sale in the UK described as 'brake disks'. [To put it into perspective this is a bit like going out any buying an I-pad and then describing it to others as an 'I-padd' or something ... ]

Another example Shimano SI tech doc for BR-M375 Disc Brakes here;

http://www.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/DiskBrakeSystem/SI_8JW0A/SI-8JW0A-001-Eng_v1_m56577569830745423.pdf

is clearly written in US English (for example 'center' is used instead of 'centre') and the word 'disc' appears where required, and the word 'disk' not at all. Shimano USA's address appears at the bottom the of the document, but it is hosted on the Shimano USA website and whoever that put it there composed a URL for it which contains the word 'disk' instead of 'disc'... does this reflect that the person concerned has spent too much time dealing with computer disks to realise that there are any other kinds, or didn't notice what was actually written in the document they filed? Does this apply to people everywhere now? Or is it just the standard US English spelling now? It smacks of being as logical as the 'Lazer' to me....

If you read what I've written in this thread, all I've done is I've asked if other people also find it peculiar that some folk spell it that way, and asking if this is indeed a matter that is right, wrong or otherwise, makes sense etc, whilst making it clear that no-one (least of all me!) has any business being prescriptive about it; after all as I said in my first post, language is defined by usage.

[ BTW History is littered with (largely failed) attempts to prescribe the use of language... one theory is that one of the few instances where it may have in part succeed was in the original Webster's US English dictionary, which I am told proactively promoted many simplified spellings that persist in US English to this day.]

Anyway for my pains I've variously been accused of all kinds of (frankly bizarre) things including

'insulting myself'

'being a Nazi'

etc.

There is a school of thought that once this kind of talk is bandied about in a forum thread, the usefulness of any further discussion may well be somewhat limited.... I'm hoping that this view will be proven wrong...

cheers

[SpannerGeek]

Who cares! The only certainty in the English-speaking language system is that its going to get more complex and more exciting as more cultural influences come to bear on it. Even French, the most protected language on earth is not immune to "le weekend" ..

[Brucey]

Who cares! The only certainty in the English-speaking language system is that its going to get more complex and more exciting as more cultural influences come to bear on it. Even French, the most protected language on earth is not immune to "le weekend" ..

Indeed; I think the efforts of the Académie française may be at best a rearguard action and at worst a complete failure; they seem to pontificate for ages before endorsing the use of some clumsy phase or other for a new thing, and then the general public stick the appropriate number of digits up (French people, mocking authority... ?? the very thought.... ) and then do what they feel like anyway. Which is very often not remotely close to what the Académie française wanted....

But when people use non-standard grammar or spelling, there is usually some kind of logic to it; for example several English dialects are 'wrong' inasmuch as they use non-standard forms for verbs.... except that the 'errors' actually turn irregular verbs into regular ones, which in a way is actually quite sensible. There's even a reason (not a very good one perhaps) behind the whole Aluminum vs Aluminium thing.... But with some things there appears to be no logic at all to it...

cheers

[Bicycler]

I thought I always used disc but searching my posts it seems i'm guilty of using both. 7 uses of disk and 24 uses of disc. Consider my wrists slapped Brucey!

[MikeF]

I thought I always used disc but searching my posts it seems i'm guilty of using both. 7 uses of disk and 24 uses of disc. Consider my wrists slapped Brucey!

And I think on one of my posts I've used "break" instead of "brake". Only realised when I read it later.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Brucey,
I think that you may be fail to appreciate that like me a lot of normal uneducated folk have poor vocabulary 22-24.
A journalist has say 40K.
And it no wonder that YOU have a good vocabulary.
English also has the largest.
My partner has a better vocabulary than me, and one of my sisters probably would give you a good run.
But if you don't use it you lose it, so you might want to treat us a bit more softly

[SpannerGeek]

Peddles for Pedals! That's got to be the worst yet...

[MikeF]

Peddles for Pedals! That's got to be the worst yet...

As my above post, but I don't think that's any worse than You're/Your where I find it irritating to re read the sentence, and I don't even pronounce the two words the same! However there are people who struggle with words so we all need to bear that in mind. Although I don't usually have problems with spelling, I'm not particularly good at writing what I mean.

But I don't think Brucey's point was about spelling per se, but between US and English spelling!

[MikeF]

Things that start out as mistakes sometimes end up in the language; for example most people understand the meaning of the phrase 'it was a bit of a damp squib' but people who have never heard of the word 'squib' may mishear and then repeat the phrase as 'it was a bit of a damp squid', whilst wondering why it is that the expression doesn't seem to make sense (surely squids are naturally damp... ?). Even so, who knows, that may in time become the most common form of the expression, if enough people reproduce it that way....


cheers

You mean like Duck Tape instead of Duct Tape? Why would a duck need tape? Because it cut itself? And now some daft company is selling Frog Tape. Is that to cover the indentation in bricks or to "repair" frogs - presumably plastic ones.

[Vorpal]

Things that start out as mistakes sometimes end up in the language; for example most people understand the meaning of the phrase 'it was a bit of a damp squib' but people who have never heard of the word 'squib' may mishear and then repeat the phrase as 'it was a bit of a damp squid', whilst wondering why it is that the expression doesn't seem to make sense (surely squids are naturally damp... ?). Even so, who knows, that may in time become the most common form of the expression, if enough people reproduce it that way....


cheers

You mean like Duck Tape instead of Duct Tape? Why would a duck need tape? Because it cut itself? And now some daft company is selling Frog Tape. Is that to cover the indentation in bricks or to "repair" frogs - presumably plastic ones.

'Duck Tape' is a brand name.

[TonyR]

Just don"t ask to "bum a fag" or "borrow a rubber" if you're in the US. It's perfectly in order though to ask for a roll of Durex in Australia.