Extendible porn

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Mar 15, 2010, at 9:16 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:

> On Mar 15, 2010, at 12:47 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote in reply to
> Wilson Gray:
>
>> From the OED: 1. Capable of being extended or stretched out; capable
>> of being enlarged in length, area, or duration, or in range or scope
>> of meaning or operation; = EXTENSIBLE.
>>
>> Your version [presumably "extensible"] gets 20 times the raw version
>> on Google, though, so I'll be more careful the next time I use this
>> word (which is fairly frequently as I often work on manufacturing
>> documents).
>
> i'd be wary of depending on raw google hits (it's possible, for
> instance, that "extensible" gets a lot of hits because of tech uses --
> as in XML for "eXtensible Markup Language"), and in any case this is
> one of those situations where we'd want to set aside informal writing
> and writing in specialized contexts, which is impossible to do on
> google.
>
> COCA shows modest numbers for all three spelling variants in written
> texts:
>   the S variant "extensible": 51 (*very* heavily from academic
> sources);
>   the D variants:
>     "extendable": 33 (mostly from magazines);
>     "extendible" 17 (largely from magazines and academic sources)
>
> (it's entirely possible that some people see a subtle meaning/nuance/
> whatever difference between the S variant and the D variant.)
>
> i'd conclude that all three variants are acceptable in serious
> writing, though some people might find the S variant "more serious" or
> "fancier", and either prefer it or disprefer it on those grounds.
>
> (i'd object in general -- as i have on Language Log in the past -- to
> using a kind of "majority vote" approach to choosing variants, in
> which only the most frequent variant is deemed correct -- One Right
> Way! -- and all less frequent variants are disapproved.)

I'm just saying that the next time I am dealing with wire drawing or memory metal and the Japanese term comes up, I'll be careful with the English variant I choose by looking through Googits to find what is in use :)  In metallurgy just like any other field, there tend to be variants that are preferred. BB


>
>> On Mar 15, 2010, at 12:07 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>>> Exten_s_ible porn or extend_a_ble porn
>
> well, this is Wilson's personal judgment, but other sources have no
> problem with "extendible".  both NOAD2 and AHD4, for instance, list
> all three variants, without differentiation.  and OED2 has all three
> -- and in fact treats "extendable" as a spelling variant of
> "extendible" (thus reflecting the etymology, based on Latin extend-ere
> 'to extend', with participle stem extens-; the Latin conjugation for
> the verb would predict -ible (with I) rather than -able, so
> "extendable" (with A) is an anglicization of the spelling).
>
> in the historical sweepstakes, "extendible" wins by a landslide.
> OED2's earliest cite is from 1477, with the "extendable" variant not
> appearing until 1654 (except in specialized legal uses, where
> "extendable" is attested in 1622 and 1626, and "extendible" not until
> 1818).  OED2 has cites for "extensible" from 1611 on, well after
> "extendible".  (not that i'm recommending originalism in choosing
> variants -- just pointing out that if you think "extendible" arose
> historically from a blending of, or "confusion" between, "extendable"
> and "extensible", you're wrong.  that doesn't exclude the possibility
> that some current speakers, confronted with "extensible" and
> "extendable", might have blended the two to get "extendible" -- but of
> course "extendible" could just be a continuation of the older variant,
> now being overshadowed to some degree by the other two.)
>
> arnold

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