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"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? |
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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 |
#3
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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 |
#4
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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/ |
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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/ |
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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 |
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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 |
#8
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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 |
#9
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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? |
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