Devolution toward Simpler

“Swimming Suit” vs. “Swim Suit” vs. “Swimsuit”

Adjectives, Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns, Versus

I have been wondering all summer about the evolution of these, and I finally decided to investigate.

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

Explanation:
These three items mean the same thing, but the different spellings here represent historical variance.

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

  • “swimsuit” — spelled S-W-I-M-S-U-I-T — 27,700,000 matches
  • “swim suit” — spelled S-W-I-M-SPACE-S-U-I-T — 2,110,000 matches
  • “swimming suit” — spelled S-W-I-M-M-I-N-G-SPACE-S-U-I-T — 313,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have used these three spellings by a compound ratio of 88.5-to-6.74-to-1.

This compound ratio seems to reflect the evolution of the compound noun “swimming suit” into the space-free noun “swimsuit”. From what I have seen, “bathing suit” was the original way to describe this piece of clothing. This seems to have morphed into “swimming suit”, especially in the USA. This seems to have morphed into “swim suit” without the I-N-G but still with a space before “suit”, which seems to have morphed into “swimsuit” with no space.

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

Solution:
Use any these three forms, but realize that the most popular spelling today uses “swim” instead of “swimming” and joins “swim” with “suit” without a space.

“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.

“phone” and “blog”

Contractions, Devolution toward Simpler

Many people do not realize that these two words originally were contractions.

The word “phone” — spelled P-H-O-N-E — originally was ‘phone — spelled APOSTROPHE-P-H-O-N-E — which is a contraction of the noun telephone, with the apostrophe signifying the omission of the first four letters (T-E-L-E).

The word “blog” — spelled B-L-O-G — originally was ‘blog — spelled APOSTROPHE-B-L-O-G — which is a contraction of the compound noun Weblog, with the apostrophe signifying the omission of the first two letters (W-E).

I believe that writing ‘phone with the initial apostrophe fell out of favor because it is simpler to omit the apostrophe than to include it. Omission of this apostrophe is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

I believe that writing ‘blog with the initial apostrophe had almost no chance of success because apostrophes are not legal characters in a uniform resource locator or URL, whereas many authors — including yours truly — like to put the word “blog” in the URLs for their Weblogs.

The result is that both “phone” and “blog” — neither of which have an initial apostrophe — have become accepted words in American English.