Re: Strange English in the manual

[Peter Dobratz]

David Bobroff writes:
 > >> The only exception is a persistent inability to write "staves"
 > >> instead of "staffs", but I think that is some kind of joke.
 > >
 > >It's American usage.
 > 
 > American usage, as far as I, as an American, know is:
 > 
 > staff/staves
 > 
 > My British colleagues say:
 > 
 > stave/staves

Yes, I'm continuing the off-topic rambling, but I for one am an
American and have always used "staffs" both in writing and
conversation.  http://m-w.com is also quite informative on the
subject :

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=staff

  plural "staffs" or "staves"
  singular "staff" or "stave"

So you see, both forms are acceptable and while you may *gasp* at
seeing "staffs" in print, I would do the same thing with "staves"
simply because it is not common usage for me.  Am I right and you
wrong or the other way around?  No, we simply talk differently while
purporting to speak the same language.

--Peter