From: Ken Wesson Subject: Re: OT "sic"? (was Re: Binary Search) Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer References: <90gfdtFmkU2@mid.individual.net> <90nvi7FlabU1@mid.individual.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit NNTP-Posting-Host: $$-gwckl$thn3l.news.x-privat.org Message-ID: <4db730d8$1@news.x-privat.org> Date: 26 Apr 2011 22:53:44 +0100 Organization: X-Privat.Org NNTP Server - http://www.x-privat.org Lines: 33 X-Authenticated-User: $$o-16a0wpsuhxkoyemw X-Complaints-To: abuse@x-privat.org Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!gegeweb.org!newsfeed.x-privat.org!x-privat.org!not-for-mail Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.java.programmer:3288 On Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:11:19 +0000, blmblm@myrealbox.com wrote: > In article > , Lew > wrote: >> On Apr 11, 9:53 am, blm...@myrealbox.com wrote: >> > In article , Lew >> > wrote: >> > > Mike Schilling wrote: >> > > > Fair point. This was simpler before generics, when the Comparator >> > > > could accept either K's [sic] or T's [sic] :-) >> > >> > "[sic]"? >> > >> > My understanding is that while it's less common than it used to be to >> > form the plurals of multiletter acronyms [*] with apostrophes (e.g., >> > "CDs" rather than "CD's"), apostrophes are still advised for forming >> > plurals of single letters, to avoid ambiguity in the case of A and I >> > (and possibly some others I'm not thinking of). >> > >> > >> But not "K" or "T". > > Eh. I guess my thinking is that it's simpler to have one rule for > plurals of single letters, rather than having one rule for the ones > where there might be ambiguity and another rule for the others. How about this rule: put quotation marks. "K"s rather than Ks. "A"s is then obviously different from As and "I"s from Is. Quotation marks are, after all, the standard way of indicating that you are referring to letters or words themselves rather than whatever they'd normally refer to.