This settles it, I guess
There is debate about "login" - is it a verb? A noun? Both? In fact, there's a blog called "loginisnotaverb" where they (duh) have a pretty firm opinion on the question.
I personally find myself saying "log on" (or sometimes "log into") for the verb, and "logged on" for the past tense and participle, while "login" is the noun. However, I don't really care how others use it (the word hasn't shaken down yet, I figure), and it doesn't strike me when others do otherwise - okay, generally it doesn't; I admit that the first time I saw "loginned" it struck me pretty hard.
But here's one I don't recall seeing before (from the ticket-buying page at the local (vacation local) theater:
Labels: language
3 Comments:
-
At 9:01 AM, July 04, 2010
Barry Leiba had this to say...
-
-
At 10:46 AM, July 04, 2010
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
-
-
At 1:27 PM, July 04, 2010
Barry Leiba had this to say...
-
-
<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->I hold strongly to "log in" (or "on"), "back up", "shut down", "stand by", and such, for the verbs, and only using the one-word versions as adjectives. One might "stand by" to see if one can get a "standby seat" on a flight, and one will "back up" one's computer to her "backup drive".
But, then, you know I'm rather a prescriptivist.
Is "login in" related to "automated ATM machine"?
I agree with you, and expect that's how it will end up. That's the way verbs with permanently detached Germanic prefixes work in English. But who knows?
The other I doubt. I think that has more to do with parsing an abbreviation as a modifier instead of a noun. ATM machine I hear all the time, and AT machine never. Just like SALT talks, never SAL talks, or UIC Code but not UI Code, or PIN number, but not PI number...
Yes, true about ATM and PIN, and so on — no one ever truncates the abbreviations.
"SALT talks" isn't quite the same: the "T" in "SALT" can be thought of as "treaty", rather than "talks" (compare "START"), so talks about the treaty could correctly be called "SALT talks", with no redundancy. In fact, I think it's odd that the "T" really is for "talks".
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]