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You sound like you know more about this than I do, but I find login as a verb distasteful and believe such usage should be avoided. What would you do for the pa

You sound like you know more about this than I do, but I find login as a verb distasteful and believe such usage should be avoided. What would you do for the past tense? You'll decompose the word to its natural verb, log, and write logged in. Also, I, for one, still favor e-mail, but I'm definitely in the minority there.

bane 10y ago
I think the problem I have more is that most of this business hinders communication by trying to establish rules that are orthogonal to the language -- usually with some kind of prestige agenda towards Romanticizing English. Hyphens to compound words were simply a convenience and clarification mark for a time before we used spaces. We use spaces now, hence we don't need hyphens anymore to compound words. What we do need is a more reasonable set of conventions that are well harmonized with the mechanics of the language. e.g. Shall we use "login" as a verb? Then we're going to get verb tenses like "logined" and "logining". Are we, collectively, okay with that? Then fine, we'll use that. If we don't like that then we won't compound the words in the verb usage and continue on with "logged in" and "logging in". But then we'll have this weird case where the verb "log" almost always means "to keep a record of", except when followed by "in" or "out". But languages tend to not like this kind of exceptionalism and we'll probably be in a state where we keep evaluating just compounding them and applying the existing tensing rules.
- ademarre 10y ago
  Personally I prefer sign in over log in. Partially because to sign seems to carry a stronger connection to the intended meaning, to authenticate, than to log does.
  - evincarofautumn 10y ago
    It’s the same metaphor—you’re signing the (virtual) logbook to get in.
    - ademarre 10y ago
      Good point, it is the same metaphor, but signing is the essential action. What do you do with the log book? You sign it. Another reason I prefer sign in is because there's less discord about its usage. I have never seen anyone try to write signin. Maybe they'll hyphenate it, but even then people seem less inclined to use sign-in as a verb compared to login.
      - grzm 10y ago
        My general rule (I don't remember where I picked it up. Maybe the Chicago Manual of Style?) is that the verb form is that the hyphenated or single-word form is the noun or adjective, and the unhyphenated form is the verb. - He will log in to the system. - What's your login? - Please sign in. - That's the sign-in table over there. Along these lines, does the button/link describe the action (click the button to log in) or the type of button (the login button). The question of whether to to use sign in or log in is separate. I go back and forth on prescriptivist vs descriptivist versions of language, though at the end of the day, languages that are in use change. I think it makes sense to create the equivalent of a stylebook for a publication or site so that there's consistent usage (prescriptivist), but understand that there are going to be inconsistencies across the use of language as a whole (descriptivist).
deleted 10y ago
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bane 10y ago

I think the problem I have more is that most of this business hinders communication by trying to establish rules that are orthogonal to the language -- usually with some kind of prestige agenda towards Romanticizing English. Hyphens to compound words were simply a convenience and clarification mark for a time before we used spaces. We use spaces now, hence we don't need hyphens anymore to compound words. What we do need is a more reasonable set of conventions that are well harmonized with the mechanics of the language. e.g. Shall we use "login" as a verb? Then we're going to get verb tenses like "logined" and "logining". Are we, collectively, okay with that? Then fine, we'll use that. If we don't like that then we won't compound the words in the verb usage and continue on with "logged in" and "logging in". But then we'll have this weird case where the verb "log" almost always means "to keep a record of", except when followed by "in" or "out". But languages tend to not like this kind of exceptionalism and we'll probably be in a state where we keep evaluating just compounding them and applying the existing tensing rules.

ademarre 10y ago
Personally I prefer sign in over log in. Partially because to sign seems to carry a stronger connection to the intended meaning, to authenticate, than to log does.
- evincarofautumn 10y ago
  It’s the same metaphor—you’re signing the (virtual) logbook to get in.
  - ademarre 10y ago
    Good point, it is the same metaphor, but signing is the essential action. What do you do with the log book? You sign it. Another reason I prefer sign in is because there's less discord about its usage. I have never seen anyone try to write signin. Maybe they'll hyphenate it, but even then people seem less inclined to use sign-in as a verb compared to login.
    - grzm 10y ago
      My general rule (I don't remember where I picked it up. Maybe the Chicago Manual of Style?) is that the verb form is that the hyphenated or single-word form is the noun or adjective, and the unhyphenated form is the verb. - He will log in to the system. - What's your login? - Please sign in. - That's the sign-in table over there. Along these lines, does the button/link describe the action (click the button to log in) or the type of button (the login button). The question of whether to to use sign in or log in is separate. I go back and forth on prescriptivist vs descriptivist versions of language, though at the end of the day, languages that are in use change. I think it makes sense to create the equivalent of a stylebook for a publication or site so that there's consistent usage (prescriptivist), but understand that there are going to be inconsistencies across the use of language as a whole (descriptivist).

deleted 10y ago

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