cataloging bureaus

[Eric Dunbar]

> Sorry: not true. The latest revision of the Dutch spelling (five years =
> back)
> set "bureau" as the official spelling, reversing the earlier support for
> "buro".

<aaargh> As a purist I of course prefer bureau (as I do night vs. nite,
power failure (vs. OUTAGE... did the power happen to step out for a
smoke?)), but from a practical stand point, buro and its ilk are more useful
once the initial teething pains have passed. (quite a bit shorter and
pronunciation is more in line with the rest of Dutch than French words)

> instituted to straighten things out). Howerver language revisions do = also
> bring some good things. For instance when the Dutch now write about = a
> language this no longer is being capitalised, so we write about the "english
> language" (not "English language"). This definitely is a relief and improves
> readability.

<chuckle>... that seems to be personal preference. As someone who learned
English before Dutch (or German <grumble> which likes to capitalise all
nouns) I prefer capitalised proper names (incl. languages), and small
letters for everything else.

> BTW: my Webster dictionary allows both "catalogue" and "catalog" as = verbs,
> while my Longman accepts only "catalogue" as a verb, although accepting = both
> as nouns.

As a final comment on the topic, neither the electronic Oxford English
Dictionary nor my Outlook Express dictionary accept catalog. The def'n &
origin for catalogue according to the OED:

(dates are earliest known usage)

catalogue kæ;talo(hook)g, sb. Forms: 5 cateloge, cathaloge, catholog,
cattologue, 7 cathalogue, 6, 9 catalog, 6- catalogue. a. Fr. catalogue, and
ad. late L. catalogus, a. Gr. katalogoj register, list, catalogue, f.
katalegein to choose, pick out, enlist, enroll, reckon in a list, etc., f.
kata down + leg-ein to pick, choose, reckon up, etc.

2. Now usually distinguished from a mere list or enumeration, by systematic
or methodical arrangement, alphabetical or other order, and often by the
addition of brief particulars, descriptive, or aiding identification,
indicative of locality, position, date, price, or the like.

* 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 227 Home, and to my chamber, and there
finished my Catalogue of books.
    
and, as a verb...

catalogue kæ;talo(hook)g, v. f. the sb. Cf. Fr. cataloguer.

1. trans. To make a catalogue or list of; to enumerate in catalogue form.

1598 Chapman Iliad ii. Argt., Beta..catalogues the navall knights.

A. 1612 Harington Brief View Ch. 80 (T.) He so cancelled, or catalogued, and
scattered our books.

PS I am no linguist so I cannot explain most of the terms and abbreviations
I just pasted here.

Sincerely, Eric.