rectangle vs. square

[Garson O'Toole]

Here is another example. Formally every circle is also an ellipse. The
set of all circles is a subset of the set of all ellipses. But the
informal use of these terms is different, e.g.:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_circle_and_a_ellipse

What is the difference between a circle and a ellipse?
Basically a circle has a constant radius throughout and an ellipse does not.

This informal use suggests that a circle is not an ellipse.
Garson

On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 7:21 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: rectangle vs. square
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm fully satisfied that "rectangle" has long since ceased to include
> "square" and "oblong" as subsets in today's corrupt version of our
> majestic tongue.
>
> I merely felt like bitching about it.
>
> BTW, you want to be careful that you don't unconsciously become truly
> - instead of jokingly, as I am - prescriptivist: "It's true because
> the OED *says* it's true!"
>
> You realize that that manner of thinking is right simple, of course.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 6:14 AM, David Barnhart <dbarnhart at highlands.com> wrote:
>> I think the definition of _rectangle_ in OED manages this quite
>> satisfactorily:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.      A plane figure with four straight sides and four right angles,
>> opposite sides being parallel and equal in length; esp. one in which
>> adjacent sides are unequal, as contrasted with a square. Later also more
>> generally: a thing having the shape of a rectangle.
>>
>>
>>
>> Although, being the splitters that OED tends have, it might have been made
>> of two definitions (at least a and b).
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>>
>> barnhart at highlands.com
>
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> –Mark Twain
>
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