From: Hugh Sasse Staff Elec Eng <hgs@...>
Date: 2002-09-25T22:57:01+09:00
Subject: Re: select and select

On Wed, 25 Sep 2002, Hal E. Fulton wrote:

>
> > > In another thread, which he accidentally created, Hugh suggested #lookup

Don't know why that happened.  I hope I have not done it again.

> > which I think is very worthy.
> >
>
> I think "lookup" could be a valid word -- a noun, not a verb.
> As in: "The first lookup of a key is cached, so the second
> is faster."

I think I wrote it like that because of Exim:
http://www.exim.org/exim-html-4.00/doc/html/spec_9.html#CHAP9

Other examples, `nslookup`, and google refers to:
http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=lookup&r=67
which would support this particular usage...

> > My pet peeve in this regard is "login" versus "log in" :-(.
>
> Mine is "setup" (as a verb) versus "set up."
>
> Interesting people don't make this mistake much in a
> non-computer context. "Sometimes I situp in bed, lookout
> the window, and lookupat the sky."

OTOH, words get blended for specific meanings: lookout, pickup
(truck or stylus or guitar sensor), and recently deafblind in
Europe, which is still generally deaf-blind in the US, to signify a
loss of vision AND hearing significant enough to impair
communication.  Then there's "already"...

The people who compile the Oxford dictionary continually say they
reflect current usage, they don't tell people how to use language.
I'm beginning to believe that "correct" only applies to constructed
languages and dead languages...  "Generally accepted" is another
matter.

        [...]
>
> Hal
>
        Hugh