"Davis Rorgh" wrote in message
ISTR that a hard drive was loosely called a DISK (spelled with a K).

Not by Seagate.


A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Is a DVD called a DISC or a DISK?

Disk or disc spelling for DVDs?
 

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 19:17:32 +0100, Davis Rorgh wrote:

ISTR that a hard drive was loosely called a DISK (spelled with a K).

A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Is a DVD called a DISC or a DISK?

DISC. For Compact Discs, and Digital Versatile/Video Discs, "disc" is
short for Discus, or flat round thingy (technical term). Check out
the discs that are marked with the official CD logo -- in small print,
it says "compact disc". The DVD logo doesn't spell it out in the same
way, as there's some dispute about what the V stands for.

For floppies, it's DISK because "disk" is short for "diskette". So
named because most people only saw them with the jackets on, and it
didn't really look terribly round that way. The disk term has been
used for harddisks as well, though I suspect that's more because
people got used to spelling it disk because of the early popularity of
floppies than anything else. I've also seen old references that use
spell it hard-disc, but I have to admit that looks weird to me, as
I've gotten used to the other spelling.

As with all computer and slang terms, it probably doesn't matter. If
the terms are used interchangeably enough for long enough, the
mainstream dictionaries will accept them as such.


---------------------------------------------

MCheu

John Turco wrote:

Davis Rorgh wrote:

ISTR that a hard drive was loosely called a DISK (spelled with a K).

A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Hello, Davis:

"Disk" for magnetic drives/media, "disc" for optical ones.

Is a DVD called a DISC or a DISK?

Disc, obviously.


Cordially,
John Turco

Davis Rorgh wrote:
ISTR that a hard drive was loosely called a DISK (spelled with a K).

A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Is a DVD called a DISC or a DISK?

The convention has been that magnetic media are called "disks"; other
media are on "discs". One reason it almost makes sense is that a hard
drive consists of many discs (platters). That does not apply to
floppies, of course, and major manufacturers have spelled the word
differently depending on the ad departments. As for EEPROMs and such,
they are memory but not on discs, so any use of either term is the
manufacturer's choic (and usually trademark).

Of course, the bottom line is that that's one misspelling which does not
lead to misunderstanding.

Mike
--

http://www.mrichter.com/

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 18:16:11 -0400, MCheu wrote:


DISC. For Compact Discs, and Digital Versatile/Video Discs, "disc" is
short for Discus, or flat round thingy (technical term). Check out
the discs that are marked with the official CD logo -- in small print,
it says "compact disc". The DVD logo doesn't spell it out in the same
way, as there's some dispute about what the V stands for.

For floppies, it's DISK because "disk" is short for "diskette".

That sounds all very logical and reasonable, but I suspect the real
reason may be that, because computers were mainly developed in the US,
American spelling became the norm. So we have disk, which is the
normal US spelling, rather than disc, which is the usual UK spelling
(in spite of what the dictionary may say). That's also why we have
program rather than programme.

However, the compact disc was developed by the Dutch company Philips,
and they tended to use UK rather than US spelling, hence "disc".

That's my theory, anyway!

As with all computer and slang terms, it probably doesn't matter. If
the terms are used interchangeably enough for long enough, the
mainstream dictionaries will accept them as such.

Agreed! :-)

--
Dave
Sheffield, England, UK

http://www.gnudawn.co.uk/

Dave wrote:

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 18:16:11 -0400, MCheu wrote:

DISC. For Compact Discs, and Digital Versatile/Video Discs, "disc" is
short for Discus, or flat round thingy (technical term). Check out
the discs that are marked with the official CD logo -- in small print,
it says "compact disc". The DVD logo doesn't spell it out in the same
way, as there's some dispute about what the V stands for.

For floppies, it's DISK because "disk" is short for "diskette".

That sounds all very logical and reasonable, but I suspect the real
reason may be that, because computers were mainly developed in the US,
American spelling became the norm. So we have disk, which is the
normal US spelling, rather than disc, which is the usual UK spelling
(in spite of what the dictionary may say). That's also why we have
program rather than programme.

However, the compact disc was developed by the Dutch company Philips,
and they tended to use UK rather than US spelling, hence "disc".

That's my theory, anyway!

As with all computer and slang terms, it probably doesn't matter. If
the terms are used interchangeably enough for long enough, the
mainstream dictionaries will accept them as such.

Agreed! :-)

--
Dave
Sheffield, England, UK

http://www.gnudawn.co.uk/


Hello, Dave:

I believe that Japan's Sony Corporation had something to do with the
CD's evolution, also. g


Cordially,
John Turco

Davis Rorgh wrote:

A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Just to add my £0.02 worth...

A floppy disk (with a K) is so called as it's an abbreviation of
"diskette". A hard disk can be spelt either way (usually with a K
though, because the platters are DISC shaped, or because it's a fixed
DISKette). CD or DVD is spelt "disc" with a C, as the name refers to the
shape of the media, rather than being short for anything.

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

In article ,
Glenn Richards wrote:
Davis Rorgh wrote:

A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Just to add my £0.02 worth...

A floppy disk (with a K) is so called as it's an abbreviation of
"diskette". A hard disk can be spelt either way (usually with a K
though, because the platters are DISC shaped, or because it's a fixed
DISKette). CD or DVD is spelt "disc" with a C, as the name refers to the
shape of the media, rather than being short for anything.

Well I guess my 2 cents is not worth your tuppence, so I'll raise you
a brass rahzoo.

I like the word "disk" to distinguish the computer thing from the real
thing. Just like I reserve "program" for software and the real
"programme" for the theatre. It's always useful to have
distinguishing spelling for the various homonyms in the lingo (e.g.
adds, ads, adze) -- not that that seems to deter the great number of
people who use "their" for "they're" these daze ;-).

[But, being an INTJ or whatever, I do like your logic re "diskette"!]


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

Hardcore DVD fanatics/experts insist on "disc" or won't respond on such
newsgroups.
"Davis Rorgh" wrote in message
...
ISTR that a hard drive was loosely called a DISK (spelled with a K).

A CD-R was called a DISC - spelled with a C but more and more often
misspelled with a K.

Is a DVD called a DISC or a DISK?