From: utzoo!watmath!rvpalliende Newsgroups: net.nlang Title: Re: ov Article-I.D.: watmath.2921 Posted: Sun Jul 4 11:18:51 1982 Received: Sun Jul 4 23:20:03 1982 References: uwvax.459 word (werd) n. 1. Any sound or combination of sounds (or its written printed symbol, customarily shown with a space on either side of it of it but none within it) forming meaningful element of speech, conveying an idea or alternative ideas, and capable of serving as a member of, the whole of, or a substitute for, a sentence; basic unit of expression of data and instructions in a computer; >From The Concise Oxford Dictionary It seems that Jon Mauney thinks ov words only as what is after the first semicolon, in the above definition. I don't see any reference to conventional spelling. Some people spell "thanx". Isn't that a word, by the definition? (I don't give any magic value to dictionary definitions. I only quoted this one to have an informed opinion) And remeber, spelling REPRESENTS language. Only in computers the written form IS the language. Pablo Alliende