Re: Why does the meaning (and spelling) of words change?

Quoting "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>:

> On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 06:08:36PM +0100, Joe wrote:
> > [The word] 'programme' is in normal, commonwealth English usage.
> > 'Computer programme' is as wrong as 'floppy disc'.
>
> Just so.  I still haven't figured out why the usual spellings are
> "floppy disk" and "hard disk" but "compact disc" and
> "digital versatile disc".  True, "floppy disk" could come from the fact
> that it's short for "floppy diskette" and there's no such spelling as
> "discette", but that doesn't explain hard disks, or the choice of
> "disc" (which is not the usual spelling in GAE) for optical media.
IIRC, the first time I needed to use the word "diskette" in English, I didn't
know the English spelling (the Swedish one is _diskett_), so I tried
"disquette". I still find the real one boring in comparison.

                                                          Andreas