Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!maynard!campbell
From: campbell@maynard.BSW.COM (Larry Campbell)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: New Map Files - Latest PATHALIAS/NETNEWS versions required
Message-ID: <1034@maynard.BSW.COM>
Date: 15 Dec 87 04:02:34 GMT
References: <8711241022.AA12529@RUTGERS.EDU> <21871@lll-tis.arpa> <3622@hoptoad.uucp>
Reply-To: campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell)
Followup-To: poster
Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Lines: 30

In article <3622@hoptoad.uucp> sunny@hoptoad.UUCP (Sunny Kirsten) writes:
<>My dictionary shows that superCedes and superSedes are aliases for
<>each other.

You should get a new dictionary.  There is no `c' in supersede.
The word comes from the Latin verb `supersedere', "to sit above",
from `super-' "above" and `sedere' "to sit" (whence also comes
`sedentary').  People who spell supersede with `c' are probably
victims of what is known as "folk etymology" -- confusing the root
for supersede with the root for intercede (which root is `cedere',
"to go").

<>             Since this is typical of english, it will be typical
<>of those who speak english.  In acknowledgment of actual usage,
<>the software ought to accept BOTH spellings.  The computer should
<>adapt to the nature of humans.  

If you mean it's typical that English speakers don't know how to spell
their own language, yes, this is true, but it is also unfortunate and
not be encouraged.  (Apology to British readers -- I suspect most of the
violence to English is done by Americans.)

If people are confusing the words `cedere' and `sedere', the proper
solution is not to wish their ignorance out of existence by declaring
that the words are identical -- which would be a lie -- but to point
out the distinction to them, enriching them thereby.
-- 
Larry Campbell                                The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Internet: campbell@maynard.bsw.com          120 Fulton Street, Boston MA 02109
uucp: {husc6,mirror,think}!maynard!campbell         +1 617 367 6846