• AdT (unregistered) in reply to EvanED
    EvanED:
    I don't get the "paint your house" photo...

    Are you susure you don't get it? Maybe if you try a little haharder.

  • Kevin Kofler (unregistered)

    The "Abbrechen / Abbrechen" choice was probably "Abort / Cancel" in English, they translate to the same thing in German. Still, even a choice between "Abort" and "Cancel" is silly.

  • piezocuttlefish (unregistered)

    "instal" is actually a correct spelling; it's just British. I think the poster himself ought have used a bloody dictionary first.

  • Matthew Watson (unregistered) in reply to phaedrus
    phaedrus:
    Bezalel:
    I just checked my dictionary and found that instal is a valid alternate spelling. Is there something else I should be looking for?
    Huh. Merriam-Webster lists it as a "chiefly British variant of INSTALL"

    No way - that dictionary is completely wrong, since "instal" is not a real word in British English either... Wonder where they got the idea that it was?

  • Matthew Watson (unregistered) in reply to Matthew Watson

    Er, except that the dictionary says that it's ok ;)

    However, NO-ONE spells it that way here now. It's just... wrong.

  • (cs)

    The most common reason for this is that the static control used to contain the text is too small. Often the control will appear to be the right size on the developer's computer, but then on another computer with a different font size or screen resolution, it will be too small. It's a noob kind of goof; the static should be generously oversized. .Net has auto-resizing statics now.

  • Squeegy (unregistered)

    Stop posting comments saying things that have ALREADY BEEN SAID.

  • JL (unregistered) in reply to Matthew Watson
    Matthew Watson:
    Er, except that the dictionary says that it's ok ;)

    However, NO-ONE spells it that way here now. It's just... wrong.

    Actually, I've had to deal with some British financial institutions in my work, and I've seen them use "instalment", so there's at least one guy over there using the alternate spelling. That said, the form is definitely inconsistent, because if "instal" is correct, then the form should say "instaling" in the two places where it says "installing". (Never mind that "Preparing to instal" should have a period or ellipsis at the end.)

  • Paolo G (unregistered) in reply to JL

    OK, let's clear a few things up...

    • "Instal" is a valid spelling in the UK. "Install" is the US spelling.
    • Similarly, UK English has "fulfil", not "fulfill", which is the US spelling.
    • In computing, the UK tends to follow US spelling for computing terms ("disk", "program", and sometimes even "license" [noun] instead of the usual "disc", "programme" and "licence" [we use "license" for the verb], respectively). "Install" is almost invariably used because Microsoft uses it in all its products, and we Brits have become used to seeing that spelling.
    • Hence the WTF is indeed a valid WTF, as "instal" is never used in the computing sense.
    • As a result of the computing influence, "instal" is on its way out in British English. People write "Someone is coming round to install a new boiler tomorrow" whereas 30 years ago they might have written used "instal" rather than "install". "Instal" looks quaint to British eyes as well.

    CAPTCHA: cogo - isn't that rude in Spanish?

  • LAR (unregistered)

    itsefl -> itself?

Leave a comment on “I Don't Need No Grammar Checker”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

« Return to Article