hi everyone,
my friend and i have a bet going over whether "incompetence" or "incompetency" is the correct use of the word. i suspect that both are acceptable, depending on the context, but i need to know their relative correctness and/or whether one is used more commonly than the other (correctly or not). the most authoritative reference will decide this wager.
she makes a margarita that is the nectar of the gods, and i make a guacamole fit for one's final meal. who will be serving whom? grammarians, work your magic.
my friend and i have a bet going over whether "incompetence" or "incompetency" is the correct use of the word. i suspect that both are acceptable, depending on the context, but i need to know their relative correctness and/or whether one is used more commonly than the other (correctly or not). the most authoritative reference will decide this wager.
she makes a margarita that is the nectar of the gods, and i make a guacamole fit for one's final meal. who will be serving whom? grammarians, work your magic.
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Wed, August 24, 2005 - 12:28 PMI don't know the answer with ANY authority, but I would like your recipe for guac!!!
I come down firmly on the side of incompetence.
Wow...that could be taken a couple of ways I did not intend!!!
Thanks, Rudy!
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Wed, August 24, 2005 - 3:15 PMaccording to dictionary.com, they are, in fact, the very same thing.
in the entry for incompetence [dictionary.reference.com/search ], they give the two as being interchangable, while in the entry for incompetency [dictionary.reference.com/search ], they give the definition of incompetency as "incompetence."
go figure.
~e.
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Wed, August 24, 2005 - 7:23 PMin my merriam webster dictionary both incompetence and incompetency are listed as grammatical but incompetence is listed first, and thusly by virtue of order, is the more standard version. -
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Mon, August 29, 2005 - 5:40 PMI too tend towards using the word incompetence, just to cast my stone.
And while we are on this topic...
[from previous post]
'and thusly by virtue of order, is the more standard version'
What about the whole 'thus' and 'thusly' dance? Same song according to Meriam Webster, but my gmail spell check doesn't honor the existence of the word 'thusly'. So there is a hint eh? I use 'thus' more often, as I tend to stray away from extraneous syllables (note the use of the four syllabled word 'extraneous', also note that gmail spell check as well does not honor the word 'syllabled').
**I think you two should drink margaritas and eat some guacamole together... and invite me** -
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Sun, December 17, 2006 - 11:24 AMThus and thusly: my reference works are at work, but isn't thusly used only as an adverb (she draped the curtains thusly) and thus, not? As in, "thus and so" or "ergo".
I need more caffeine but do you know what I mean?
I would never use thusly in the context of "thusly by virtue of order"; and I would suspect the order might have been by virtue of alphabetization.
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Tue, August 30, 2005 - 8:27 AMFor what it's worth, the citations in the Online OED show competency to be the older word by some 200 years. In my case that's not worth much, since the Online OED is free. -
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Sun, December 17, 2006 - 12:11 PMdenotation aside....
I mean something completely different when I question one's competence and their competency. (could be the legal background influence, though: it was always referred to as a competency hearing).
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Re: 2 enter 1 leaves: incompetence or incompetency?!
Tue, December 19, 2006 - 8:22 PMIn order to better understand this conundrum, we must first look at the constituent parts -- incom and petence. Now, incom is clearly derived from the word (n)incom(poop) and petence from pet(er) putting up the f(ence). So, basically, if you are putting up a fence, you will know the difference. But ONLY if your name is Peter.
But seriously, I feel that incompetency implies action, whereas incompetence implies an attribute.
Bob knocked the half-built fence over with exuberant incompetency!
VS.
In his boundless incompetence, Bob tripped over the garbage can and fell directly into the too-big storm drain.
Or something...
What I'd really like to know is why "incompotent" isn't a word. Because, hey, incompotency rocks!!
