I often have to synchronize the data between two computers.
1. Since synchronize is such a long word, we often shorten it to sync (pronounced "sink").
Does anyone have any thoughts why "synch" would be a contraction than "sync"?
2. Does anyone have any thoughts about how to spell the past-tense of sync [sic], in a way that would imply a pronounciation of "sinked")?
- synced? <--looks like it should be pronounced sinced.
- synched? <--looks like it should be pronounced cinched.
- sync'ed or sync'd?
1. Since synchronize is such a long word, we often shorten it to sync (pronounced "sink").
Does anyone have any thoughts why "synch" would be a contraction than "sync"?
2. Does anyone have any thoughts about how to spell the past-tense of sync [sic], in a way that would imply a pronounciation of "sinked")?
- synced? <--looks like it should be pronounced sinced.
- synched? <--looks like it should be pronounced cinched.
- sync'ed or sync'd?
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Spelling of technical words and jargon
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 11:53 AMWe have a product that "syncs" and we have decided more of the users read the spelling "sync" more accurately than "synch" and generally undrestand the former better than the latter.
Because this term is jargon and not a formal word, there is no one right way to use the word. Where possible, I would try to reword to avoid placing it as a verb or adjective. However, we often have those situations arise where the term the user will best undrestand is "synced".
Which ever spelling you use, make sure to use it the same way all the time.
Sync
Syncing
Synced
Syncs
Re-sync
etc.
:)
Feiruz -
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Re: Spelling of technical words and jargon
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 5:01 PMAnother vote for dropping the H. Using it as a verb or noun seems fine to me, but agreed the adjectival form is awkward.
I work in tech as well, and I've found that "sync" is more widely used and understood in industry publications. My guess on why is twofold: 1) Modern English is hell-bent on efficiency, especially in techspeak, so the extra letter has to go; 2) People seem to want to pronounce the H when it's there (like "cinch"). We're a weird, impatient culture.
Merriam also favors "sync" over "synch," but lists both as legit:
http://209.161.33.50/dictionary/sync -
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Re: Spelling of technical words and jargon
Mon, June 18, 2007 - 1:18 PMIncredibly, people in my office use "sunk" as the past-tense of "synch" or "sync". All day long, they tell each other (and our software users) that they "sunk" the data. "The data is sunk!"
Can they not hear how ridiculous that sounds? Because these of course are all computer scientists, engineers and database analysts, the question of how to offer an alternative or delicately point out that it's bad P.R. to go around saying the system is "sunk" is a good one.
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Re: Spelling of technical words and jargon
Thu, July 5, 2007 - 6:32 PMhehe i'd go for the 'h' cos it's accurate to the original...
the 'h' has no place with the rest of the word, so it oughta stay with its 'c' in the abbreviation as well.
just cos that's accurate...
whenever i improperly past-tense something (i.e., an abbreviation),
i do as your last supposition -- apostrophe + 'd'
cos, again, that's accurate - the apostrophe indicates missing letters...
synch'd does look weird tho.
n sync'd does look better.
since you're abbreviating a word anyway to a contrived prefix,
i dont think there IS a proper way to past-tense it... cos it's not regular to begin with!
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Re: Spelling of technical words and jargon
Sun, July 29, 2007 - 2:48 AMI think "synch" used to be used by some, but has fallen out of usage.
"Synced" is the least bad alternative for the past tense. But, if "sync" is bolded or in italics, I would not extend this to the suffix, though I don't think any style manuals would agree with me.
The people saying "sunk" are probably trying to be cute.
