Re: [RFR] templates://linux-2.6/{linux-base.templates,templates/temp.image.pla in/templates}

[Justin B Rye <jbr@edlug.org.uk>]

Ben Hutchings wrote:
>> I feel like "ID" is more appropriate than lowercas "id" as acronyms
>> are generally using uppercase. However, the current practice and
>> existing documentation may lead to keep "id".
> 
> 'id' is short for 'identifier' and there is no reason to capitalise an
> abbreviation of a single word.  I believe 'ID' in capitals originally
> stood for identity document, and while it is commonly used simply for
> 'identifier' it annoys my pedantic nature.

Here the dictionaries agree with Christian - some of them
(especially US ones) allow for "I.D.", but I can't find any that
recognise the existence of your abbreviation "id".  There's an
English word "id" (pronounced /ɪd/, as in "creatures from the"), but
that's not the one we mean; the standard spelling for the word
/ɑɪdi/ is ID.

The word you're thinking of that stands for "Identity Document" is a
phantom.  It would give the expression a nice tidy etymology, but
what really seems to have happened is that people just trimmed
"identification" down to its first syllable and read that out as
letters!  The result is a quasi-acronym - just like KFC, which
officially doesn't stand for anything either.  It irritates me too,
but if we let ourselves get annoyed by English spellings we'd never
get any work done. 

>> - We recommend that you identify these devices by UUID or label, except that
>> - on MIPS systems this is not supported for the root device.
>> + You should identify these devices by UUID or label, with the
>> + noticeable exception of the root device for MIPS systems.
[...]
>> 
>> Drop the use of first person. Rewrite the last sentence that looks
>> awkward to me (Germish? :-))
> 
> No, I wrote that.  While it was slightly awkward, it was correct and
> your change after the comma would make it ambiguous.  MIPS users *must
> not* use UUID or label for the root device id.

"We" isn't too bad (it obviously means "some set of developers")
but how about:

     The recommended solution is to identify these devices by UUID or label,
     except that on MIPS systems this is not supported for the root device.
or maybe
     except on MIPS systems, which do not support this for the root device.

-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package