No am I sorry but that logic is shear nonsense.
Using this logic 'OS' refers to a single Operating System
and 'OSs' refers to multiple Operating Systems.
The norm in English language is to add 'es' to 'OS' becomes 'OSes'
Your choices are:
1. Replace all instances of 'BIOS' with 'Basic Input/Output System'
2. Use BIOS and a follow the standard of adding an 'es' to make it
pural.
>
> > > - "cpu family\t: %c\n"
> > > + "CPU family\t: %c\n"
> > >
> >
> > If CPU is an abbreviation for Central Processing Unit, it should be
> > capitalized. However, if it is the abbreviation for central processing
> > unit, it should not!
>
> Most acronyms are written all in capitals. In my experience, "CPU" is
> ordinarily written that way.
Again this logic is severely flawed.
If I am referring to the actual Central Processing Unit of a die it
would be
CPU, if I am referring to the actual chip on a motherboard/mainboard it
should
be CPU, but if I am referring to a particular architecture a family of
central processing unit have it is 'cpu'.
>
> > > - "RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid ramdisk image starting at %d.\n",
> > > + "RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at %d.\n",
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Again, if we have invented a proper name called Ramdisk, it should
> > be capitalized. However, random access memory, i.e., ram need not. It
> > can be, but it doesn't have to be.
>
> It can be, and usually is (for instance, it is written that way at
> http://computer.org/author/style/acronyms.htm). I won't argue that it
> will be confused with an uncastrated adult male sheep.
In showing this thread to my daughter, who is a technical writer, she
had
some rather pointed comments concerning these 'wholesale' spelling
changes.
Below are her comments.
1. The correct plural form of 'BIOS' is, in fact, 'BIOSes.'
The acronym is read as 'bye-oss,' so, in accordance with the general
pluralization rule demanding that 'es' be added when a word ends with
an 's' sound, 'bye-oss' becomes 'bye-osses.'
2. Many terms used by programmers are idiomatic. Changing a commonly
used
phrase or word because it does not adhere to the rules of
Standard American English causes unnecessary confusion at the very
least
and changes the meaning completely at the worst. It may not be
officially
correct to say that "The data is in," but if you say "The data are
in,"
you'll probably get a few weird looks.
3. In an international community made up of both native and non-native
speakers of
English, the clarity and understandability are far more important
qualities than
perfect linguistic mechanics.
4. If a standard "has" to be applied it should be Standard British
English since Linux
has its root in Europe and most Europeans learn Standard British
English. I can
say this because I learned Standard British English while in the
Austrian
"Volkschule".
> ___
> Trevor Johnson
In closing are your 'diff' files available on the Internet somewhere so
that those
of us so inclined may 'reverse' your patches?
A better solution would be to back all these 'spelling and grammar'
patches out
of the official Linux development kernel.
-- Terry L. Ridder Blue Danube Software (Blaue Donau Software) "We do not write software, we compose it."When the toast is burnt and all the milk has turned and Captain Crunch is waving farewell when the Big One finds you may this song remind you that they don't serve breakfast in hell ==Breakfast==Newsboys
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