Re: How did the Spelling Police miss this one?

[Miles Bader]

[e-mail] (Johannes Ruscheinski) writes:
> > Call it a neologism; it's quite widely used among programmers, anyway.
>
> Most programmers don't know how to spell either.  Btw., I've been a
> programmer for over 20 years.  Just because people don't know any
> better does not necessarily make it correct.

Well, actually, it does -- that's the nature of language.

Anyway, the real point is (1) whether or not people understand what it
means, and (2) is it a `gratuitous' invention, in the sense that its
being used by only a very few people in place of a more commonly
accepted word, _only_ because of ignorance.

I don't think (1) is an issue, since canonicalize is a straight-forward
construction; indeed, since the usual meaning of `canonize' is the one I
quoted, I guarantee that using it to mean `make canonical' will get you
a few puzzled looks.

As for (2), I can't speak for the wider population, but as I said, I've
heard `canonicalize' used by programmers quite often, whereas I've
never, ever, heard `canonize' used in this context.  I think one reason
for its popularity is that it has a sort of charmingly tongue-twisting
sound to it, and I suspect many people use it because of that even
though they realize it's `not quite right.'  IOW, there's a good reason
for its use, beyond the mere ignorance of a few.

Anyway, my take: keep canonicalize, it's hip, it's now.

:-|

-Miles
-- 
Next to fried food, the South has suffered most from oratory.
  			-- Walter Hines Page