On 20 July 2006 Stephen Black wrote: > Beth, our watchful spelling policeperson, admonishes that the word > should be spelled "tangential", not "tangental". Right, I thought. > Then it occurred to me that the second form seems appropriately > constructed, namely tangent + al. So why is it wrong?
> That led me to look it up, on-line, naturally >(http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=tangental). > It turns out that both are correct. >From this side of the pond (UK): neither my Chambers nor Oxford Concise (which is not *that* concise) give "tangental" as an alternative [and WORD immediately 'corrected' this to "tangential" as I typed it!]. So it looks like a another example of two (or more) peoples separated by the same language (or something like that). Interestingly, neither dictionary gives "tangental" as a US version, which they normally do when it differs. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------- Thu, 20 Jul 2006 22:29:09 -0400 Author: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Deities "R" Us - tangental > Surprise! A post under this heading which has nothing to do with > religion, merely spelling. And I do regret starting this thread, even if > my non-tangential intent was merely to point out "Boy! What a lot of gods > there are!". > > Beth, our watchful spelling policeperson, admonishes that the word should > be spelled "tangential", not "tangental". Right, I thought. Then it > occurred to me that the second form seems appropriately constructed, > namely tangent + al. So why is it wrong? > > That led me to look it up, on-line, naturally > (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=tangental). It turns out that > both are correct. > > So on behalf of those who wrote "tangental" in place of "tangential", I > enter a plea of not guilty [sings: "You say tangential, I say tangental; > let's call the whole thing off"]. > > Stephen > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2600 College St. > Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 > Canada > > Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy > TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at > http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
