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Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 5 posts ] 
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 Post subject: West Nile stories
PostPosted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:31 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2003 12:01 am
Posts: 108
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
With the mosquito season ahead, I humbly offer the following for your consideration:<p>"DEET" is neither a trade name nor an initial-based acronym. Rather, it represents the supposed pronunciation of its constituents, D.E.T. (di-ethyl tolumide) and ought to be written as "deet."<p>Using all caps would be like referring to the vice president as "the VEEP" or calling the junior-varsity team "the JAYVEE team." Moreover, "deet" is inarguably a common noun, a generic, much like fellow chemical compounds "dopa" and "tepa."<p>[ April 03, 2004: Message edited by: Peter Sibley ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: West Nile stories
PostPosted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:58 pm 
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Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 281
Location: Dallas
I wholeheartedly agree! <p>And m-w.com backs you up, even if most newspapers haven't figured it out yet.


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 Post subject: Re: West Nile stories
PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 9:32 pm 
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Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 1286
Location: Saranac Lake, N.Y.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Nicole Stockdale:
I wholeheartedly agree! <p>And m-w.com backs you up, even if most newspapers haven't figured it out yet.<hr></blockquote><p>Seems logical. Do you know what New World and other dictionaries say? What about stylebooks?


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 Post subject: Re: West Nile stories
PostPosted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 10:01 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:01 am
Posts: 3137
Location: Homebush NSW Australia
This World Health Organisation fact sheet distributed by a commercial company backs you up.


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 Post subject: Re: West Nile stories
PostPosted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:36 am 
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Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 281
Location: Dallas
It's not in my New World (2002). Here is a roundup of some other opinions, all but one (the Acronym Finder) agrees to lowercase deet.<p>I haven't seen a stylebook address it. But I can't see any reason for one to espouse all caps.


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