On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 8:28:38 AM UTC-4, gareth wrote:
"joe" wrote in message
...
gareth wrote:

I have in my possession a book entitled, "Antennae", published in 1942
by a lecturer to both King's College, London, and also to various Brit
government
establishments.

At some point since then, the ignorance of either engineers or of Yanks
has tried
to pass off, "Antennas" as the plural.

If we pride ourselves on the exactness of our principles, then it is high
time to correct this glaring error by the Yanks.

(Book being studied avidly, although with some necessary revision
ov vector field theory; div, curl and grad, anyone?)

From an online dictionary:

I guess that it would be a fair assumption, bearing in mind the development
of
computers and, much later, the Internet, that your online dictionaries
originated
several decades after 1942, and long after the ignoramuses' error arose?

Um, wouldn't that be "ignorami"??

Insects have antennae. Hams have antennas.

And things do change; remember kilocycles?

On 19/05/2016 19:07, Mike Ross wrote:
On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 8:28:38 AM UTC-4, gareth wrote:
"joe" wrote in message
...
gareth wrote:

I have in my possession a book entitled, "Antennae", published in 1942
by a lecturer to both King's College, London, and also to various Brit
government
establishments.

At some point since then, the ignorance of either engineers or of Yanks
has tried
to pass off, "Antennas" as the plural.

If we pride ourselves on the exactness of our principles, then it is high
time to correct this glaring error by the Yanks.

(Book being studied avidly, although with some necessary revision
ov vector field theory; div, curl and grad, anyone?)

From an online dictionary:

I guess that it would be a fair assumption, bearing in mind the development
of
computers and, much later, the Internet, that your online dictionaries
originated
several decades after 1942, and long after the ignoramuses' error arose?

Um, wouldn't that be "ignorami"??

It would depend on the commonly accepted root and whether it was Latin
or Greek (as many Latin words derive from Greek which can confuse things
more).
It also depends upon how Anglicised the word has become as the more it
is accepted as an English word then the more likely it is conform to the
many and often conflicting rules of English. Like the Italian word
Pizza. Italian plural of Pizze but it has become Anglicized and is now
Pizzas..... and don't get me started on people buying 'A' panini...

Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy

AndyW wrote:


Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy
I would like to endorse that last sentence! In the UK both are
acceptable, and the time when we could dictate what is 'correct' to the
rest of the English-speaking world is long past.


--

Roger Hayter

On 5/20/2016 8:50 AM, Roger Hayter wrote:
AndyW wrote:


Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy
I would like to endorse that last sentence! In the UK both are
acceptable, and the time when we could dictate what is 'correct' to the
rest of the English-speaking world is long past.

I don't know about that. It *is* called "English". You can dictate...
I don't know if anyone will listen, but you can still set the example
for the rest of the world. I think it is rather expected in fact. If
the English start adopting the various perversions of the language, that
will be the ultimate abdication, no?

The French certainly aren't letting anyone as much as get a foot in the
door of telling them how to speak or write. They "officially" used to
call e-mail the wordy "communication électronique" and now use the
shorter, but still very French term, "courriel".

--

Rick C

On 20/05/2016 13:50, Roger Hayter wrote:
AndyW wrote:


Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy
I would like to endorse that last sentence! In the UK both are
acceptable, and the time when we could dictate what is 'correct' to the
rest of the English-speaking world is long past.

If we want a 'correct' usage then we need an English equivalent of the
Academie Francais.

Andy

In message , AndyW
writes
On 20/05/2016 13:50, Roger Hayter wrote:
AndyW wrote:


Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy
I would like to endorse that last sentence! In the UK both are
acceptable, and the time when we could dictate what is 'correct' to the
rest of the English-speaking world is long past.

If we want a 'correct' usage then we need an English equivalent of the
Academie Francais.

Andy

Heaven forbid!

However, the plural 'antennae' is no more correct than the pretentious
'referenda', 'musea', 'stadia', 'fora' etc - all words we have borrowed
from Latin, but now we use in a way that an ancient Roman would respond
to with a "Quid est?".
--
Ian

AndyW wrote:

On 20/05/2016 13:50, Roger Hayter wrote:
AndyW wrote:


Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy
I would like to endorse that last sentence! In the UK both are
acceptable, and the time when we could dictate what is 'correct' to the
rest of the English-speaking world is long past.

If we want a 'correct' usage then we need an English equivalent of the
Academie Francais.

Andy

Absolutely. But what I was getting at here is that, while both are
acceptable in the UK, I believe the Americans who tell us that
"antennae" for radio aerials is plain wrong in the US.



--

Roger Hayter

Roger Hayter wrote:

AndyW wrote:

On 20/05/2016 13:50, Roger Hayter wrote:
AndyW wrote:


Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy
I would like to endorse that last sentence! In the UK both are
acceptable, and the time when we could dictate what is 'correct' to the
rest of the English-speaking world is long past.

If we want a 'correct' usage then we need an English equivalent of the
Academie Francais.

Andy

Absolutely. But what I was getting at here is that, while both are
acceptable in the UK, I believe the Americans who tell us that
"antennae" for radio aerials is plain wrong in the US.

PS someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "antenna" the ordinary
peoples' word for a satellite or television aerial in America? Whereas
everyone except radio specialists uses 'aerial' in the UK. If so it is
not surprising that there is a much more established plural usage in the
US.



--

Roger Hayter

In message , AndyW
writes
On 19/05/2016 19:07, Mike Ross wrote:
On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 8:28:38 AM UTC-4, gareth wrote:
"joe" wrote in message
...
gareth wrote:

I have in my possession a book entitled, "Antennae", published in 1942
by a lecturer to both King's College, London, and also to various Brit
government
establishments.

At some point since then, the ignorance of either engineers or of Yanks
has tried
to pass off, "Antennas" as the plural.

If we pride ourselves on the exactness of our principles, then it is high
time to correct this glaring error by the Yanks.

(Book being studied avidly, although with some necessary revision
ov vector field theory; div, curl and grad, anyone?)

From an online dictionary:

I guess that it would be a fair assumption, bearing in mind the development
of
computers and, much later, the Internet, that your online dictionaries
originated
several decades after 1942, and long after the ignoramuses' error arose?

Um, wouldn't that be "ignorami"??

It would depend on the commonly accepted root and whether it was Latin
or Greek (as many Latin words derive from Greek which can confuse
things more).
It also depends upon how Anglicised the word has become as the more it
is accepted as an English word then the more likely it is conform to
the many and often conflicting rules of English. Like the Italian word
Pizza. Italian plural of Pizze but it has become Anglicized and is now
Pizzas..... and don't get me started on people buying 'A' panini...

Bottom line: English evolves constantly and Antennas and Antennae are
both correct but one is in the ascendancy and the other is on the wane.
Neither can be said to be the correct one and neither can be said to be
wrong.

Andy

One thing is absolutely certain - and that is that the ancient Romans
didn't use the plural 'antennas' for what we British traditionally call
'aerials' (regardless of how high or low they might be).
--
Ian