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It also ignited debate over what it was even called. Is it the "X-Window System", or abbreviated, "X-Window" or, like the British and their "maths", is it "X-Wi

It also ignited debate over what it was even called. Is it the "X-Window System", or abbreviated, "X-Window" or, like the British and their "maths", is it "X-Windows"? Not to be confused with "Windows®" of course.

tranquilpig 9y ago
I think the US is the odd one out hete with your one unit of 'math'. Mathematics -> maths You don't say, "I am learning mathematic", unless you are a cretin.
- DSMan195276 9y ago
  It has an 's' at the end, but it is still treated as a singular noun in most contexts. You don't say "My favorite subjects are mathematics", you say "My favorite subject is mathematics".
  - mort96 9y ago
    To be fair, you would also not say “My favorite subjects are games”; there’s only one subject, called “games”, even though the word “games” is a plural form of “game”. I can’t really come up with a situation where you would want to refer to multiple “mathematicses”; it kind of just is something ethereal, not a _thing_ where it makes sense to refer to one or many.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      Hypothetical_Bob: "I like applied and pure maths. Mathss are my favourite subjects. I don't know which one to pick for my A levels".
  - akatechis 9y ago
    Most people abbreviate "economics" as "econ" why not "mathematics" as "math"?
- idle_zealot 9y ago
  This is the wrong place for this debate, but "math" is an abbreviation of "mathematics". Why would you take the end of a word you are abbreviating and add it to your abbreviation? I'll add that "mathematics" is a singular noun.
  - DonHopkins 9y ago
    All of mathematics is connected at the root, so there is only one math.
  - tomjakubowski 9y ago
    I've long preferred "math's", which was actually in common use at some point in the 19th century. It's a contraction, like "bo's'n" :-).
- dgfgfdagasdfgfa 9y ago
  > You don't say, "I am learning mathematic", unless you are a cretin. So why is "maths" plural? It's sure as hell not countable. What is "a math"? At least "mathematic" makes sense—you can deconstruct the morphology to understand this is "a lesson", i.e. the gerund of "to learn". It's also the natural english adjectival form of the greek word. "maths" is just weird. You might as well use "magicks".
tome 9y ago
Is this even a debate? Wikipedia makes it clear that it is called "The X Window System", or "X" for short. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System
- DonHopkins 9y ago
  Teach The Controversy [TM] !!! http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teach_the_controversy http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teach_the_controversy
- JdeBP 9y ago
  It was not a debate really, it was a popular error that was much remarked upon. It was as much of a shibboleth then as people saying "SystemD" now is.
excitom 9y ago
>To annoy X fanatics, Don specifically asked that we include the hyphen after the letter "X,", as well as the plural of the word "Windows," in his chapter title. Of course :-)
gerdesj 9y ago
"like the British and their "maths"" You should see my mathematic 8)

tranquilpig 9y ago

I think the US is the odd one out hete with your one unit of 'math'. Mathematics -> maths You don't say, "I am learning mathematic", unless you are a cretin.

DSMan195276 9y ago
It has an 's' at the end, but it is still treated as a singular noun in most contexts. You don't say "My favorite subjects are mathematics", you say "My favorite subject is mathematics".
- mort96 9y ago
  To be fair, you would also not say “My favorite subjects are games”; there’s only one subject, called “games”, even though the word “games” is a plural form of “game”. I can’t really come up with a situation where you would want to refer to multiple “mathematicses”; it kind of just is something ethereal, not a _thing_ where it makes sense to refer to one or many.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    Hypothetical_Bob: "I like applied and pure maths. Mathss are my favourite subjects. I don't know which one to pick for my A levels".
- akatechis 9y ago
  Most people abbreviate "economics" as "econ" why not "mathematics" as "math"?
idle_zealot 9y ago
This is the wrong place for this debate, but "math" is an abbreviation of "mathematics". Why would you take the end of a word you are abbreviating and add it to your abbreviation? I'll add that "mathematics" is a singular noun.
- DonHopkins 9y ago
  All of mathematics is connected at the root, so there is only one math.
- tomjakubowski 9y ago
  I've long preferred "math's", which was actually in common use at some point in the 19th century. It's a contraction, like "bo's'n" :-).
dgfgfdagasdfgfa 9y ago
> You don't say, "I am learning mathematic", unless you are a cretin. So why is "maths" plural? It's sure as hell not countable. What is "a math"? At least "mathematic" makes sense—you can deconstruct the morphology to understand this is "a lesson", i.e. the gerund of "to learn". It's also the natural english adjectival form of the greek word. "maths" is just weird. You might as well use "magicks".

tome 9y ago

Is this even a debate? Wikipedia makes it clear that it is called "The X Window System", or "X" for short. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System

DonHopkins 9y ago
Teach The Controversy [TM] !!! http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teach_the_controversy http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Teach_the_controversy
JdeBP 9y ago
It was not a debate really, it was a popular error that was much remarked upon. It was as much of a shibboleth then as people saying "SystemD" now is.

excitom 9y ago

>To annoy X fanatics, Don specifically asked that we include the hyphen after the letter "X,", as well as the plural of the word "Windows," in his chapter title. Of course :-)

gerdesj 9y ago

"like the British and their "maths"" You should see my mathematic 8)