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Forum:Artifacts or Artefacts of Rassilon?: Difference between revisions
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:::::::Artefact is an Australian usage, according to my 'The Australian Concise English Dictionary', it does list 'artifact' but just says 'see artefact'. | :::::::Artefact is an Australian usage, according to my 'The Australian Concise English Dictionary', it does list 'artifact' but just says 'see artefact'. | ||
:::::::I would prefer to go with text based sources for this one ''and'' have the subtitles to back it up (after all the subtitles spell TARDIS 'Tardis'). --[[User:Tangerineduel|Tangerineduel]] 12:27, June 7, 2010 (UTC) | :::::::I would prefer to go with text based sources for this one ''and'' have the subtitles to back it up (after all the subtitles spell TARDIS 'Tardis'). --[[User:Tangerineduel|Tangerineduel]] 12:27, June 7, 2010 (UTC) | ||
::::::::OK, I searched through as much as I could (I don't have everything) for all instances of either spelling. The only mentions of the Artifacts of Rassilon I found were the Shada script book and the fan club novelization of Shada (I could have sworn that term first appeared in The Deadly Assassin, but I guess not), but the word in general is used many times. Unfortunately, the results aren't very illuminating. | |||
::::::::*Early Virgin books used the "i" spelling almost exclusively. There are only two exceptions before [[The Also People]]. From that point on, the two were used interchangeably, sometimes even in the same book. Official synopses (and therefore presumably press releases and the like) always used only the "i" spelling. | |||
::::::::*BBC Books used the "e" spelling almost exclusively in the EDAs and PDAs, and most of the exceptions are on covers. I didn't find either spelling in any official synopses. None of the NSAs I have use the word at all. | |||
::::::::*Target Books used both spellings interchangeably--never within the same book, but you can find back-to-back books that alternate, and books by the same author with both spellings. | |||
::::::::*Subtitles use the "i" spelling, but the word is only in 2 episodes that I have, 1 being unofficial subtitles for the Shada VHS reconstruction (which also contains the typo "arifact"). | |||
::::::::*The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club uses the "i" spelling (for whatever that's worth). | |||
::::::::*Overall, counting the whole corpus, "artefact" appears in more sources, but "artifact" appears more times (largely because of a few early NAs). | |||
::::::::It looks like, contrary to what the OED or any other dictionary says, both spellings are alive and well in the UK, and both are plentiful in Doctor Who texts. (Also, I should mention that the OED and their usage guide have been accused of having a bit of a prescriptivist bent, and refer to various things as "preferred" even though actual usage is closer to 50/50.) So, now what? --[[User:Falcotron|Falcotron]] 02:52, June 9, 2010 (UTC) | |||
