If "circa" is too Latinate--even though, to reiterate, it is a perfectly good English word--then why not just "around" (which is essentially what circa means)?
Agatha, Saint, died around 250. Tilting at RDA windmills, Ben Benjamin Abrahamse Cataloging Coordinator Acquisitions, Metadata and Enterprise Systems MIT Libraries 617-253-7137 From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca] On Behalf Of Kelleher, Martin Sent: Friday, July 05, 2013 10:36 AM To: RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca Subject: Re: [RDA-L] "approzimately" in access points I think it's more to do with "political correctness" than universality..... less surprising, then, that you end up with obscurity rather than clarity as a result!! ;-) Martin Kelleher Metadata Manager University of Liverpool From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of Benjamin A Abrahamse Sent: 05 July 2013 14:32 To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA<mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA> Subject: Re: [RDA-L] "approzimately" in access points I agree that the heading "-approximately 250" borders on incoherence. "died circa 250" is much less ambiguous. Do users really not know what "ca." or "circa" means? It's in both Webster's and the OED. --Ben Benjamin Abrahamse Cataloging Coordinator Acquisitions, Metadata and Enterprise Systems MIT Libraries 617-253-7137 From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca] On Behalf Of Gene Fieg Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 2:43 PM To: RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca<mailto:RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca> Subject: Re: [RDA-L] "approzimately" in access points And meanwhile the patron is wandering in the desert supplicating the deity for meaning. On Thu, Jul 4, 2013 at 11:25 AM, James Weinheimer <weinheimer.ji...@gmail.com<mailto:weinheimer.ji...@gmail.com>> wrote: On 04/07/2013 18:07, Elizabeth O'Keefe wrote: <snip> On a somewhat related issue (it was raised in Mac's post), is anyone else bothered by the display when only a death date is known? Smith, John, -1932 </snip> I have experienced the same thing. I recently cataloged an item with the subject heading: Agatha, Saint, -approximately 250. I copied and pasted it unthinkingly but when I was editing my record, I couldn't understand what this meant, and it was only when I realized that the earlier heading was: Agatha, Saint, d. ca. 250 and the "d." was changed to a hyphen, and the "ca." was changed to "approximately", did I understand what the heading was supposed to say. But that was only because I know the AACR2 heading. The new heading is incoherent. -- James Weinheimer weinheimer.ji...@gmail.com<mailto:weinheimer.ji...@gmail.com> First Thus http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/ First Thus Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/FirstThus Cooperative Cataloging Rules http://sites.google.com/site/opencatalogingrules/ Cataloging Matters Podcasts http://blog.jweinheimer.net/p/cataloging-matters-podcasts.html -- Gene Fieg Cataloger/Serials Librarian Claremont School of Theology gf...@cst.edu<mailto:gf...@cst.edu> Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Lincoln University do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information or content contained in this forwarded email. The forwarded email is that of the original sender and does not represent the views of Claremont School of Theology or Claremont Lincoln University. It has been forwarded as a courtesy for information only.