Re: Strange English in the manual

[David Raleigh Arnold]

On Sunday 22 February 2004 11:47, Peter Dobratz wrote:
> 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"

Webster's is not very good in musical matters.  This quote is
a retreat from a previous version, which had only "staffs"
acceptable.  The HDM is far more authoritative, and it uses
staves.  daveA

-- 
It's not that hard to understand the lesson of Viet Nam.  Never never
never never defend one tyrant against another, because The worst thing
that can happen is you might win.  The *Gulf* war was worse than Nam.
D. Raleigh Arnold dra@ (http://www.) openguitar.com address@hidden