Month: September 2008

“Coordinate” vs. “Co-ordinate” vs. “Coördinate”

Adjectives, Nouns, Verbs, Versus

I wondered which spelling was correct after recently seeing each one.

Problem:
Each spelling is considered to be correct, but not everyone agrees which among these three spellings is/are correct.

Explanation:
These three words mean the same thing as nouns, they mean the same thing as verbs, and they mean the same thing as adjectives.

The different spellings here represent historical variance.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “coordinate” — spelled C-O-O-R-D-I-N-A-T-E — 52,800,000 matches
  • “co-ordinate” — spelled C-O-HYPHEN-O-R-D-I-N-A-T-E — 5,050,000 matches
  • “coördinate” — spelled C-O-DIAERESIS-O-R-D-I-N-A-T-E — 10,100 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used these three spellings by a compound ratio of 5,228-to-500-to-1.

This compound ratio seems to reflect the evolution of the word. From what I have seen, “coördinate” with an diaeresis-O was the original spelling of the word. This seems to have morphed into “co-ordinate” with no diaeresis but with a hyphen between the first “o” and the second “o”, which seems to have morphed into “coordinate” with no diaeresis and no hyphen.

I believe that evolution of this word is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis. It is simpler to write or type a hyphen than to write or type an diaeresis, and it is simpler to omit the hyphen than to include it.

Solution:
Use any these three spellings of the word, but realize that the most popular spelling today has no hyphen and no diaeresis.

“It tastes different.” vs. “It tastes differently.”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Verbs, Versus

I frequently see one of these used when the other is required.

Problem:
These two sentences do not mean the same thing.

Explanation:
The sentence “It tastes different.” means that “It” has a different taste than something else.

In other words, “It tastes different.” effectively is an abbreviated sentence for something like “It tastes different than ice cream.”

The sentence “It tastes differently.” means that “It” now tastes things differently than it formerly tasted things.

The source of the confusion between using the adjective “different” and the adverb “differently” is due to the fact that the verb “taste” has definitions when used with an object and other definitions when used without an object.

  • The most common definition of the verb “taste” with an object is to test the flavor of [the object] by putting some in the mouth or on the tongue;
  • The most common definition of the verb “taste” without an object is to have a particular flavor.

Solution:
Use “It tastes different.” when referring to the taste of something. Use “It tastes differently.” when referring to the ability of something to test the flavor of other things.

“Economic” vs. “Economical”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Versus

I frequently see one of these used when the other is required.

Problem:
The adjectives “economic” and “economical” are best not treated as synonyms.

Explanation:
The most common definitions of the adjective “economic” are:

  • related to the production and use of wealth, commodities, and income;
  • related to the science of economics; and,
  • related to an economy.

An example of the proper use of the adjective “economic” is “The President of the U.S. vetoed the bill for economic reasons.”

The adjective “economical” means thrifty.

An example of the proper use of the adjective “economical” is “You should buy a more economical car.”

I believe that the tendency of some people to use “economic” where “economical” is required is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

For example, it is simpler to say “an economic use of gasoline” than it is to say “an economical use of gasoline”, which requires an extra syllable.

Solution:
Use “economic” when referring to income, wealth, commodities, economics, or the economy. Use “economical” when referring to thriftiness.