Re: carcase vs. carcass

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>>> >Gary wrote:

>>> >> A carcase is the main shell of a cabinet/desk/dresser/whatever, and a >>> >> carcass is a dead animal. >>> >>> Pat Barber responded: >>> >carcase is usually reserved for a cabinet structure "in progress" >>> > >>> >carcass is reserved for for a cabinet that has been backed over by >>> >pickup truck in garage..... >>> >>> >>> I think you get the prize for best answer so far. >>> >>> The summation of everything else we've discovered from the OED and Oxford >>> Concise and Webster's Third and all of our other definitive (ha!) sources >>> seems to be "use whichever spelling you please, and you've got plenty of >>> support for using either one." >>> >>> -=- Gary -=- >> >>Occam's razor - In English whenever a British and American spelling are available, the British is always preferred. >> >>Carcase! > >And that thead is old enough to drink alcohol.

True ;-)

Carcase is what the kids keep Hot Wheels in; carcass is the dead opussum on the yellow center line of the roadway ;-)

[krw]

I thought it was a skunk.

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In our area,'possums are much more likely.

[krw]

Or armadillos. Here too (never seen a skunk here, actually) but they don't fit the lyrics.

[J. Clarke]

Dead skunk in the middle of the road--a harbinger of spring in New England.

[CPM Systems]

Many office furniture companies, such as those that specialize in desks, chairs, and filing cabinets, don't always have a plan for how to use the right keywords and long tail keywords to market their business online.

[krw]

"Think about the comfort of your employer:"

Well, I suppose some do think about their employer a lot but their "comfort" probably isn't at the top of the list.

"...that they don't be able to complain about any issue..." Ah, Chinglish. What do you expect?

[Peter Dickason]

That's what a car case is to me. In my 53 years of life I have never before seen the word 'carcase'. I had to google it and still it wasn't obvious. Finally, I determined the word they meant was carcass and that some references say they are interchangeable. Great. This is why I hate the English language and why I was never good at it in school. There is no logic to it whatsoever and basically derived from the drunken hoards of the middle ages.

[invalid unparseable]

Old English loved a good compound word, like German does today. "Word-hoard" has been used as a modern version of what Old English would use to describe a vocabulary (or a dictionary). I've seen "word-hoard" used in translations of _Beowolf_ for example.

But to really bring your point home, the hordes were drunk, not the hoards. :^)

Elijah

------ carcase = carnal (flesh) + case (box)

[Leon]

So what was your first language? ;~) I am certain every language has it's issues.

There is no logic to it whatsoever and basically derived from the drunken hoards of the middle ages.

There is logic to it but only about 90% of the time. Phonics are often not my friend. I don't care for words that begin with a silent letter. What is the point?

Pneumonia, Xylophone, Knife to name a few. And why does "sure" not have an "h"in it?

Don't get me started on sword.

Banks that have failed for some reason thought that their name should have Banc in their name.

And last but certainly not least......

NYU, yes a university. Who would have thought New York Vniversity? Spelling is not that University's strong point. Yes, University begins with a "V" on the building letters just below the NYU flag.

[Scott Lurndal]

This goes back to Roman times. You try to hand carve a U.

[Scott Lurndal]

[DerbyDad03]

OK, so not exactly along the same line of thought, but you reminded me of something.

I used to work for a company that had database of our customers. When we'd create an entry for a customer, the system automatically created a "Short Name". It was a simple process: Last name followed by first initial.

Don Smith -> SMITHD Sue Jones -> JONESS

Now, luckily, this was all internal and the customer never saw their Short Name, because...

Soon after I started working there, I took on a new customer. A Chinese gentleman named Kiu Chin. I'll leave to you to figure the Short Name that the system created.

BTW...the Short Name became hardcoded into the system with no ability for the user to modify it. That Short Name stayed attached to Mr. Chin's account for many years, until that database was eventually retired.

[Leon]

I did not know that NYU went back to Roman Times! ;~)

It still looks stupid. One would have thought that the flag would have had a V too.

[meff]

Roman Latin didn't really make a distinction between 'U' and 'V'. I'm not sure that it was carving purposes that drove this choice, but maybe.