Re: 'ic' versus 'ical'

[Pete Kloppenburg <pkloppen -at- CERTICOM -dot- CA>]

Simon North asks:
> In my mind there is a subtle difference between 'logarithmic area
> ratio' and 'logarithmicAL area ratio'. I hate the last, somehow it
> doesn't feel right but I can't put my finger on exactly why not.
> With 'electric' and 'electrical' the difference is easy to define ...
> and all Fowler says is that "the choice is immaterial".

Well, here's a poke at it.  Consider "historic" and "historical".  Many
people use the two
words interchangeably, but that's not precisely right.  Something which is
historic is something
which is a part of history - an historic occasion, for instance.

On the other hand, something which is historical has to do with history,
but is not in itself
*part* of history.  Hence, the historical museum.

I would say that electric/electrical follows the same pattern: an electric
toaster (runs on
electricity), an electrical engineer (works *with* electricity, but is not
in itself electric) or
electrical tape (for use with electricity, but is not in itself electric).

Sorry I couldn't offer a more coherent explanation, complete with
linguistic terminology,
but the coffee is rather weak this morning.

Pete Kloppenburg - pkloppen -at- certicom -dot- com
Technical Writer
Certicom Corp
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada
http:\\www.certicom.com

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