Re: On computerese

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Sunday, 15 September 2024 at  0:38:37 +0000, hohe72@posteo.de wrote:
>
> 'catenate' is missing in Oxford learners and Oxford Compact Dictionary
> as well. It's objected by my mail client also. Seems to be American
> English.

Sadly many dictionaries omit less common words.  As Doug says, both
are in the real Oxford English Dictionary, and also in the old Shorter
Oxford English Dictionary dating from round the epoch, and my
Webster's New Encyclopedic Dictionary ("All New 1994 Edition").

> 'concatenate' seems to be a more common technical term. I learned it
> in study. Oxford mentioned it to be technical.

The OED differentiates between "catenate" and "concatenate", though so
subtly that I have difficulty differentiating.  It almost looks like a
left hand, right hand issue.

concatenate: derives from Latin concatēnāt-, participial stem of
             concatēnāre to link together.

             To chain together (obsolete); to connect like the links
             of a chain, to link together. figurative.

             First attested in 1622.

             Frequency currently 0.33 ppm, risen from 0.03 ppm in
             1950.


catenate:    Latin catēnāt- past participial stem of catēnāre (<
             catēna chain).

             To connect like the links of a chain, to link, to string
             together; to form into a catena or series.

             To bind as with a chain.

             First attested in 1623

             Frequency currently 0.02 ppm.


> BTW, what's that: 'computerese'?

From the OED (no joke):

computerese: The type of language characteristic of computer
             programming languages and operating system
             commands. Also: the jargon of computers and computer
             science.

             First attested 1960.

             Frequency currently 0.022 ppm.

BTW, in many countries public libraries offer free online access to
the OED.  I get mine via the State Library of Victoria, and other
Australian State libraries offer the same access to residents of the
state.

Greg
--
Sent from my desktop computer.
Finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
This message is digitally signed.  If your Microsoft mail program
reports problems, please read http://lemis.com/broken-MUA.php

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature