disk or disc?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

monkeyfudge

I've always spelled it disc...

I thought disk was an american thing.

Rabies

I usualy would type Floppy Disk and Compact Disc. Dunno why

Femelade

ah its definately disc

Creamy Goodness

it's as rabies said

floppy disk

compact disc.

same as

tv programme

and

computer program

scorpy

the reason is, floppy disk is short for floppy *diskette*. whereas a compact disc is a description of the shape - it's a round flat object, a disc.

this is what I read somewhere, anyway.

Zaph

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

disc (US also disk) noun 1 a flat, thin circular object. 2 (disk) an information storage device for a computer, on which data is stored either magnetically or optically.

disk noun (US & computing) variant spelling of disc

Hope that helps

Gazza22

Yeah disc...teachers can be so stupid sometimes!

monkeyfudge

Cremo wrote:

it's as rabies said

floppy disk

compact disc.

same as

tv programme

and

computer program

Again program is an american spelling... and computers only like american english... that's why the spellings computer program and floppy disk have entered such common usage here.

slade_x

Disk doesnt make much sense to me as the word disc was derived from discus "a disc", or a throwing discus

Sparky

usually it depends on the situation, what was the teacher describing?

i think in the computer world
a floppy is a floppy disk
aswell as a hard disk drive, even tho it has disc's inside it
and compact disc's

So it really all depends the object, like a cd is round so its a disc.

adonis

Dis[b]c[/b]

scorpy wrote:

the reason is, floppy disk is short for floppy *diskette*. whereas a compact disc is a description of the shape - it's a round flat object, a disc.

this is what I read somewhere, anyway.

i would go with this one..

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Dave!

Disck!

Sparky

i cant vote because i dont know what the teacher was discribing?

RobertFoster

Sparky_S wrote:

...aswell as a hard disk drive, even tho it has disc's inside it...

Possibly because both floppies and HDDs use magnets.

nesf

Moved to English.

Kolodny

Sparky_S wrote:

i cant vote because i dont know what the teacher was discribing?

Exactly. Don't know what context the word was used in. But I would use floppy disk and compact disc also.

Tar.Aldarion

i vote neither! it's like saying is it spelt sow or sew!

WellyJ

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

i vote neither! it's like saying is it spelt sow or sew!

Isnt sow, a pig?

And sew, an action that you do?

pickarooney

Is 'compact disc' not a (Philips) trademark? Both my CD drives have it spelt that way and in the same lettering. I would normally use 'disc' for everything but a hard drive, but I've no idea why that is.

Tar.Aldarion

WellyJ wrote:

Isnt sow, a pig?

And sew, an action that you do?

yes indeedy but if somebody asked you to spell it or which is correct you would need the context before answering.

Eoin

Dis[b]c[/b]

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

yes indeedy but if somebody asked you to spell it or which is correct you would need the context before answering.

Well, not really. Sow as in the piggy sow is pronounced "sou". But to sow as in scatter seeds is pronounced the same as "sew". So, then you would need the context

po0k

Solitaryman666 wrote:

This post has been deleted.

"Disk" is used for anything which is referred to as such, which is not necessarily circular and which also contains a circular disc. ie. Floppy disk. hard Disk.

Disc is for round planar objects ie Compact Disc (acute example), "I slipped a disc in my spine" (obtuse example)

That is how I define it, and unless I am arsed to read the thread from the start to here and happen to find some undeniable reasoning to an alternative definition of/distiction between the two it's the right interpretation of either word.

I'm assuming Disk is either Americanese or has Germanic origins and that disc is a 'purer' latin derivative?

po0k

eoin_s wrote:

Well, not really. Sow as in the piggy sow is pronounced "sou". But to sow as in scatter seeds is pronounced the same as "sew". So, then you would need the context

Phonetics.


Sow, female pig, pron. <s'ow>

Sow, plant seeds, pron <s'oh>

Eoin

Dis[b]c[/b]

SyxPak wrote:

Phonetics.


Sow, female pig, pron. <s'ow>

Sow, plant seeds, pron <s'oh>

That was my point.

po0k

Oh, and Sony are tools.

"MiniDisc" - sure, there's a disc inside, but the whole object is marketed as the MiniDisc, one of it's key features being that it's protective body makes it hardy and the disc inside is less likely to be damaged. It should be MiniDisk.

IT DOESN'T CONFORM WITH MY DEFINITION.

Scarinae

I think disk was originally the American variant spelling, but it's coming into common use now due to words associated with computers being spet American (disk, program etc)
The Irish Times Simplex crossword had 'Disk' as the answer to the clue 'Round planar object', and I've noticed them increasingly using the word 'Airplane' in that paper too. I was seriously considering writing a letter of complaint about their editing standards but I decided it would look too pedantic

Capt'n Midnight

gavage