In most common usages, at least in the US, "mic" is a noun abbreviation for "microphone" and "mike" (and conjugates) is a verb abbreviation for "to use or deploy a microphone" ...or something like that.
Carry on. Eugene -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of William Samson Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 11:09 AM To: Lute List Subject: [LUTE] All about micing...redux When I were a lad (Oh no - Here we go again!) we used the contraction that was pronounced and spelt 'mike' for a microphone. When did this 'mic' oddity appear in the language? I'm assuming it's still pronounced 'mike' but maybe it's 'mick'? Perhaps we should be talking about 'micking'? OTOH maybe I'm just taking the mic . . . :] From: William Brohinsky <tiorbin...@gmail.com> To: lute net <Lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Monday, 9 April 2012, 15:30 Subject: [LUTE] All about micing...redux Fellow luters, may I offer some help in terminology? First of all, micing does not exist in the language (on either side of the Atlantic) in a context of microphones. I might have use in terms of barn cats. The actual term is, as was originally used, miking. However, there is a price for using this form, at least for this old geezer, in that every time I saw the subject line about miking lutes, I wondered, "geez, can you really get milk out of one of them things?" For our purposes, and for all that it costs a few extra letters and a whole space, I highly recommend "using microphones" or if you aren't capitalizing it, "using mikes." 'Miking' is a concatation (pace Stan Kelly-Bootle) used in the industry by technicians who are sure they have less time than they obviously have. Those who feel the aching need to over-complicate their prose are invited to substitute "utilize" for "use" with the promise that I, at least, will not feel the loss at avoiding their posts. yours with tongue in both cheeks at once, William To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
