Re: [tied] Occam's razor

From: Glen Gordon
Message: 20457
Date: 2003-03-28

George:
>Sine neCeSSitate Glen. The site spells it wrong.

Yes, I wasn't sure. I'm not very fluent in Latin. I just understand
much of it thanks to French. It was more economical (or is it
"oeconomical"?), at least mentally, to accept the spelling as it was :)


>Also, for what it's worth, OCKHAM's (ca. 1288-1348) name is no longer
>spelt OCCAM, not even by the French, except where the serious literature
>used pre-dates WWII.

Ironically, your assertion counters the facts and would appear to violate
the principle of parsley. No wait, I mean the principle of parsimony, I'm
getting tired, it's late. According to a Google search, "Occam's Razor"
yields 29,700 links. In contrast, "Ockham's Razor" yields only 17,700.

So this, combined with the ease of spelling "Occam" over the more awkward
"Ockham", has produced a popularity of the former rather than the latter on
the internet. Perhaps people are choosing the old spelling variant now.


>Interestingly, the preferred mediaeval English spelling was HOKAM ( and
>then the h was dropped).

I don't see much connexion/connection any of this has to the topic/topick
of Occam's/Ockham's/Hokam's Razor/Rasor/Rasoir/Racer. If mediaeval/medieval
English were so confused on spellin(g), why should I be the one/won to
keep it straight/strait?


- gLeN


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