[Haskell-cafe] Re: Implementing fixed-sized vectors (using datatype algebra?)

[Dan Weston]

Richard A. O'Keefe wrote:
 > Concerning "parametrized" vs "parameterized"
 > On 12 Feb 2008, at 11:21 pm, Wolfgang Jeltsch asked:
 >> What spelling is more common?
 >
 > Strictly speaking, there is no such word in English as "parametrized".

Except that, strictly speaking, there *is* a word "parametrized" in 
English. I have read and heard it from many (at least 10) independent 
uses by educated native writers of English. I use it myself. 
Merriam-Webster agrees with me [1].

The OED editorial board is no Académie Anglaise: its criterion is 
descriptive, not prescriptive, by its own admission [2]. Whether a 
spelling is accepted by the OED has nothing to do with morphological 
rules (or "proper" usage) and everything to do with established usage. 
That is why we say "impulse" but not "compulse", the antonym of 
"increment" is not "excrement", we have "electrify/liquify" but 
"electrification/liquefaction", "duh" and "no duh" are near-synonyms, etc.

To directly answer Wolfgang's question: "parameterized" is the more 
common. It is "more correct" only insofar as it is the more common.

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parametrized

Main Entry:
     pa·ram·e·ter·ize
Pronunciation:
     \p?-?ra-m?-t?-?ri-z, -m?-?tri-z\
Variant(s):
     or pa·ram·e·trize \-?ra-m?-?tri-z\
Function:
     transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
     pa·ram·e·ter·ized or pa·ram·e·trized; pa·ram·e·ter·iz·ing or 
pa·ram·e·triz·ing
Date: 1940
: to express in terms of parameters

[2] http://www.oed.com/about/writing/choosing.html

"...a new word is not included in the OED unless it has "caught on" and 
become established in the language. Words that are only used for a short 
period of time, or by a very small number of people, are not included."

Dan

Richard A. O'Keefe wrote:
> Concerning "parametrized" vs "parameterized"
> On 12 Feb 2008, at 11:21 pm, Wolfgang Jeltsch asked:
>> What spelling is more common?
> 
> Strictly speaking, there is no such word in English as "parametrized".
> There is no general morphological rule "Xer => Xrized" in English.
> The only spelling accepted by the OED is "parameterized",
> which annoys me because I prefer the -ise- spelling.
> 
> Amusingly, one of the quotations in the www.oed.com entry for
> "parameterized" actually spells it "parametrized"; I don't know whether
> the source had it that way or whether the data entry error was at the OED.