_microfiche_: "count" oder nicht?

[Peter Richardson]

Sheets of microfiche are, as I recall, about 6" x 8", printed on a
celluloid-like medium, with each sheet containing dozens of photo-reduced
pages of material. One needed a microfiche reader to read the things. I used
them extensively when reading college catalogs in my job search in the '70s.
And they're hardly a thing of the past: my local auto parts store uses them
all the time, finding that they're quicker than the internet. (Of course,
changes in prices and parts dictate that one order new microfiche sets,
whereas the internet can reflect those changes immediately.)

Peter Richardson


On 1/20/14 3:36 AM, "Dan Goncharoff" <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _microfiche_: "count" oder nicht?
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------>
-
>
> What are sheets of microfiche? My only experience with microfiche had
> them on rolls of tape.
>
> OT: one of my first jobs was in a securities firm at the window where
> physical securities would be received. The securities would be
> microfiched. Once a year the microfiche machine would be rolled away
> from the wall, revealing a pile of random certificates that had fallen
> behind the machine since the last time it was moved.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jan 20, 2014, at 12:59 AM, 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:      _microfiche_: "count" oder nicht?
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --
>>
>> "microfiches," from at least 1959
>>
>> "sheets of microfiche," from at least 1964
>>
>> IMO, "count" is indubitably "correct." OTOH, because I can't recall hearing
>> anyone use "five sheets of microfiche" in place of "five microfiches" until
>> the '90's, when I heard my
>> young-enough-to-be-my-grandchildren-hence-of-no-authority assistants use
>> it, it was surprising to discover it used as non-count in print years
>> before any of those chirren were born.
>>
>> Youneverknow.
>>
>> The only thing that surprises me more than realizing how mistaken I often
>> am is realizing how mistaken others often are. ;-)
>>
>> --
>> -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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org