From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jul 28 12:40:05 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 37D01106566B for ; Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:40:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from marc@blackend.org) Received: from smtp6-g21.free.fr (smtp6-g21.free.fr [IPv6:2a01:e0c:1:1599::15]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 373A78FC0A for ; Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:40:01 +0000 (UTC) Received: from emphyrio.blackend.org (unknown [88.179.1.53]) by smtp6-g21.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id E88C882284; Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:39:54 +0200 (CEST) Received: from emphyrio.blackend.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by emphyrio.blackend.org (8.14.5/8.14.4) with ESMTP id q6SCdrKa002032; Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:39:53 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from marc@emphyrio.blackend.org) Received: (from marc@localhost) by emphyrio.blackend.org (8.14.5/8.14.4/Submit) id q6SCdqD5002031; Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:39:52 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from marc) Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:39:52 +0200 From: Marc Fonvieille To: Warren Block Message-ID: <20120728123952.GA1989@emphyrio.blackend.org> References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: X-Useless-Header: blackend.org X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 8.3-STABLE User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Cc: doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FDP and compound words X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:40:05 -0000 On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 06:00:01PM -0600, Warren Block wrote: > The FDP word list at > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/fdp-primer/writing-style-word-list.html > specifies the formats for several words that are often used as a single > compound word in our documentation. For example: > > file system > disk label > mail server > name server > web server > > Actually, I think the single-word versions of at least the first two are > more correct. Some searching found this: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_noun_and_adjective > > There's an excellent example: "darkroom". A darkroom is a different > thing than a dark room. > > To me, filesystem and disklabel are singular. A filesystem is a thing, > a single object, while a file system is a group of files and > directories. I'm sure there's a name for the > difference between the single- and double-word versions, but don't know > it. Many one-word versions are enshrined in code, like the use of > "nameserver" in resolv.conf. > > I propose changing the FDP recommendations for the two-word versions > above to the single-word versions. > > Statistics from SGML files in /usr/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1: > > 628 "file system", 513 "filesystem" > 28 "disk label", 65 "disklabel" > 50 "mail server", 3 "mailserver" > 56 "name server", 21 "nameserver" > 74 "web server", 13 "webserver" > You forgot to add manual pages, which should change the results for the first two versions. This was discussed in past (long time ago) on this list and we ended (if my memories are Ok) with what is currently on our wordlist. -- Marc