On Nov 22, 2013, at 2:17 PM, inode0 <ino...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 2:54 PM, Rolf Turner <r.tur...@auckland.ac.nz> wrote: >> >> Just read some stuff on this list about "spins", a concept which had >> not previously impinged itself upon my consciousness. So I went and >> had a look at the spins.fedoraproject.org page. It started off by saying >> "What is a spin? Fedora spins are alternate version of Fedora, tailored >> ...". >> >> For God's sake, people!!! That's "alternative versions"!!! Alternate >> means "every other" or "every second". Alternative means "available as >> another possibility". Saying "alternate" when you mean "alternative" is >> sloppy, lazy thinking and irritates and confuses the reader. >> >> Why can't computer geeks learn to write English correctly? > > In American usage this is acceptable and common.
Yes, there's no distinction between "alternate versions" and "alternative versions" both are adjectives. And to make it more hilarious for nit pickers, for some time it's no longer necessary that only two choices apply, there can be multiple choices and it's still OK to use either one. For a ski lift line with two or more lines merging, the word alternate is used. And it's the same for alternative which simply means more than one choice, including three or four or ten. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, there are many alternatives." Is a common phrase. > But if it bothers you > that much why didn't you just correct it on the wiki in a fraction of > the time it took you to rant about it here? He likes ranting? Chris Murphy -- users mailing list users@lists.fedoraproject.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
