shouldn't micing rhyme with slicing?

[true-eurt]

Micing reminds me of something my cat would do on a friday night,with his buddies...
I like mic'ing....

 

[snow lizard]

The apostrophe is the crux of the biscuit.


sl

 

[remco]

mike-ing ?

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

I can spell pedantic.

P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C

See?

 

[Mark7]

France (not a legitimate country)

I see. So any nation who dares to argue with Bush Almighty is now deemed an illegitimate country?

Most of the UK doesn't agree with him. Does that make us illegitimate too?

 

[mandocaster]

I see. So any nation who dares to argue with Bush Almighty is now deemed an illegitimate country?

Most of the UK doesn't agree with him. Does that make us illegitimate too?

You re-elected Blair, and popularized the combination of fried potatoes and fried fish - a potent argument for your nation's legitimacy.

 

[Mark7]

Well, the alternative to Blair was another Conservative government like the last one. So we didn't have much choice on that front. Still, at least his majority has been slashed to 63 and most of the Blairites got voted out.

 

[mandocaster]

Well, the alternative to Blair was another Conservative government like the last one. So we didn't have much choice on that front. Still, at least his majority has been slashed to 63 and most of the Blairites got voted out.

So what is the official Labor Party position on the proper verbification of "mic"?

 

[true-eurt]

I can spell pedantic.

P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C

See?

I have imagination!!!...Just not in this thread.......

 

[mandocaster]

I don't mean to come off pedantically. Micing, mic'ing,miking are terms that we all use all the time. I just want to discuss it until all life and joy are sucked out of the topic.

 

[up-fiddler]

I don't mean to come off pedantically. Micing, mic'ing,miking are terms that we all use all the time. I just want to discuss it until all life and joy are sucked out of the topic.

It's getting close.....

 

[famous beagle]

A contraction doesn't have to be one of the ones you mentioned. In times past, contractions were used to shorten all kinds of longer words (like microphoning).

Ok ... well in times past we used words like "doth" and "thee" and spelled other words differently. We don't do that anymore; we have agreed upon that.

Can you give some examples of an apostrophe being used outside of a contraction or a plural? I'm interested.

 

[famous beagle]

True, and technically, the origin of the possessive use of apostrophes is, I'm told, derived from an "es" genitive ending in middle english (and German), so it truly was leaving out a letter.

There are also a few exceptions lurking in modern English---relics of times gone by---fo'c'sle, ne'er-do-well, o'er, rock 'n' roll.... As far as I can tell, with the exception of that last one, they're all basically considered archaic spellings. I'm not sure what to make of the appearance of 'n' as a short form for "and".... Maybe it's just the languag evolving....

"rock 'n' roll" is simply just a shorthand. It's not a contraction. It's slang, if anything, like "gonna" or "outghtta."

 

[XLR]

Can you give some examples of an apostrophe being used outside of a contraction or a plural?

Well, I can think of one off hand...'cello, for violincello, is still often used. I see it written with the apostrophe usually just by 'cellists themselves though.

Tim

 

[mandocaster]

"rock 'n' roll" is simply just a shorthand. It's not a contraction. It's slang, if anything, like "gonna" or "outghtta."

Well, mic as a verb is slang as well. I don't recall any other word that is spelled like micing (icing, slicing, etc.) and is pronounced with a "K" sound.

I don't have a huge emotional investment in this subject. I usually use micing and grit my teeth, envisioning mice.

 

[up-fiddler]

It is still used as a contraction though. 'cello is similar to 'bye in that respect. Gads! Now I'm caught in this thread!

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

It really should be "miking".

The problem is that, by the standard rules of the English language (that phrase is almost a joke in itself ) the use of the spelling "mic" is incorrect to begin with. Because there is no "e" at the end, the "i" should be short; i.e. "mic" should be pronounced "mick", rhyming with the brand of writing instruments, "Bic".

I thing the origin of "mic" probably started as "mic." (with an abbreviating period), which is a correct way to abbreviate the word microphone, and was used probably to label microphone jacks in tight spaces. After a fashon, people just got lazy and dropped the abbreviating period at the end of their labeling, and people interpreted that to accept "mic" as a word and not a technical abbreviation.


So really, we technically *should* be using the word "mike" instead of "mic" (which *should* be pronounced "mick"). This would, as Harvey referred to earlier, follow in line with the fact that for bicycle we use shorthand "bike". As to the objection that "bicycle" is different than "microphone" because it has the soft "c" versus microphone's hard "c", that becomes irrelevant when shortening the word. In both cases, the "k" needs to be used in the short version to indicate the hard consonant sound regardless of whether it was hard or soft in the original word. And the "e" is added at the end of both words to indicate the "i" is long.

So, while it may be asking too much to ask everybody to stop using "mic" and use "mike" instead, "miking" should remain the correct spelling for that form of the word.

G.

 

[XLR]

aaaarrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGH... BANG!

(sound of my head exploding)

Tim

 

[famous beagle]

It is still used as a contraction though. 'cello is similar to 'bye in that respect. Gads! Now I'm caught in this thread!

Ok, if you say so guys. I've never ever seen 'bye or 'cello in my life. I've seen 'til. But again, this is still not a contraction. A contraction is when two words are combined with an apostrophe. This is just a shortening of a word.

To me, "mic'ing" makes no sense whatsover. I can't think of one other example in English that just sticks an apostrophe in the middle of a word like that. I think you just have to accept that the spelling needs to change to "miking" when you use that form, like the way "lie" changes to "lying."

 

[boingoman]

Ok, if you say so guys. I've never ever seen 'bye or 'cello in my life. I've seen 'til. But again, this is still not a contraction. A contraction is when two words are combined with an apostrophe. This is just a shortening of a word.

That's what you were looking for- use of an apostrophe outside of a contraction.

That's what you got.

Some people are never happy.