What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Hundreds of spelling variations occur between dialects of English.

And is that what we're discussing here? No, it isn't.

So please don't be disingenuous, nor dishonest.

I'm not certain that Taggers has been exposed to your line of reasoning before JT so I doubt he will know what you mean.

Have you not been following along?

what a tool we have

Of course I have. It's about how to spell "miniscule" isn't it?

I googled english usage: lo and behold the top hit was

"common errors in english usage"

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/spell/mini.html

If Someone Tells You That "Miniscule" Isn't a Real Spelling...

Back to Spelling Reform Page
In "Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage" (1989), part of the entry "miniscule, minuscule," notes:


"This spelling [miniscule] was first recorded at the end of the 19th century (minuscule dates back to 1705), but it did not begin to appear frequently in edited prose until the 1940s. Its increasingly common use parallels the increasingly common use of the word itself, especially as an adjective meaning `very small.' "

During the last half of the 20th century, dictionary lines have been adding "miniscule." A telling case comes with the "Concise Oxford" dictionaries. The Eighth Edition, published in the mid-1980s, does have an entry for "miniscule," but labels it as "erroneous." However the "Concise Oxford Dictionary," Ninth Edition (1995) lists "miniscule" as simply a "variant" spelling.
The "American Heritage Dictionary," Third Edition (1992) gives "miniscule" as a full-fledged variant of "minuscule," as does "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary," Tenth Edition (1993). Merriam-Webster's has been listing "miniscule" in their dictionaries since at least 1971.

"The Random House Unabridged Dictionary," Second Edition (1987) lists "miniscule" as a variant, with a usage note stating that while "this newer spelling is criticized by many, it occurs with such frequency in edited writing that some consider it a variant spelling rather than a misspelling."

I am told (on an Internet newsgroup) that "Macquarie's Australian Dictionary," Second Edition lists "miniscule" as a variant spelling as well.

Also noted in the "miniscule, minuscule" entry in "Merriam- Webster's Dictionary of English Usage" is this:


"It may be, in fact, that miniscule is now the more common form. An article by Michael Kenney in the Boston Globe on 12 May 1985 noted that miniscule outnumbered minuscule by three to one in that newspaper's data base.

That entry concludes with this statement on the spelling "miniscule":

"Our own view is that any spelling which occurs so commonly, year after year, in perfectly reputable and carefully edited books and periodicals must be regarded as a standard variant."
By Cornell Kimball

Make sure it's a modern one, mind.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/minuscule

minuscule
Pronunciation: /ˈmɪnəskjuːl/
(also miniscule)

...




The standard spelling is minuscule rather than miniscule. The latter form is a very common one (accounting for almost half of citations for the term in the Oxford English Corpus), and has been recorded since the late 19th century. It arose by analogy with other words beginning with mini-, where the meaning is similarly ‘very small’. It is now so widely used that it can be considered as an acceptable variant, although it should be avoided in formal contexts.

What would a language luddite like you want with a modern dictionary, McTag? It might cause you to have to think about your cherished childish fantasies on language.

I hope Mac doesn't feel the need to respond to anything as meaningless as that.

and minuscule seems to suggest seeing something that is not there. Seeing something minused or taken away.

I'll stay on the side of the angels, with the more elegant and original version.