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the sue of ...
2

the sue of ...

the sue of ...

(OP)
Came across this in some documentation.

Quote:


.. the sue of local branches allows an item to be ...
In this case sue means surfeit or plethora but I've never seen it in this context before, nor can I find it in any dictionary.  Is it a typo?

RE: the sue of ...

I'm guessing it is a back-formation from the writer's native language, as according to my reasonably big dic (C20th) there is no suggestion of that meaning.

Cheers

Greg Locock

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RE: the sue of ...

Must be a typo.  Maybe it was supposed to be "use" instead of "sue".

RE: the sue of ...

(OP)
Now that you mention it, yes, it is really obvious.  Must be use.

Thanks.

RE: the sue of ...

Could it be a typo of "slew"?

RE: the sue of ...

Warning:

Members who aren't native English speakers are advised against quoting from Greg's first post in this thread unless they are extremely confident users of the language and in safe company.

A.

RE: the sue of ...

Sum or site.

RE: the sue of ...

oh, gosh zeus.  I'm sure there are lots of people who'd like to have a look to see what his reasonably big dic (C20th) really says.

RE: the sue of ...

I guess by extension in the new electronic era, big dic has been replaced by electric dic.

RE: the sue of ...

(OP)
Slew is probably what most people thought when they read the doc but as most of them are software engineers who can't spell, they

1) probably didn't think twice about it and assumed a meaning
2) have never seen it in writing before and just assumed it was correct.  Two people I spoke to had heard its use verbally but had never seen it on paper.
3) skim read it (what I tend to do)
4) didn't bother reading it (like most standards docs)

I still think it is just a typo of use.  Anyway it is out for review amongst the managers/engineers and it will probably go through with no comments as most of them won't bother reading it until they really have to use it.  This is issue 3 and "the sue" has been in since issue 1!

RE: the sue of ...

I know what you mean.

I only got a C in English, only studied it till I was 16 (GCSE) and frankly am not great at grammer etc. but I spot so many things when I get asked to review documents, or often when I come to use docs others prepared/reviewed/approved.

To me the standard of English in the majority of documents here is abysmal but I often get accused of being picky when I point them out.

Doesn't help that I grew up in England speaking English but am now in the states trying to speak Americanwinky smile.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: the sue of ...

I do so agree with you Kenat - I get the same comments and I didn't even pass my O level English Language at the first time of asking (but I did scrape a grade 5 on resitting).  In the past I've worked with Americans, Italians, Spanish, French, Germans, and now I work with Malaysians.  Mostly, I have found the Americans to be the worst for mangling English grammar and spelling (God help those who rely on spell checkers!)  Additionally, I do believe the stardards of written English in the UK is also becoming abysmal - could it be due to the preponderance of "text-speak" entering the mainstream written English?

I am now reviewing an article written by a younger English colleague for publication in an international journal and it is full of grammatical errors.


The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it - Michelangelo.

RE: the sue of ...

Back in my second year of university, I had a prof who set the standard for his classes:  He would read our work until he got to the first mathematical error, or the fifth grammatical error.  Then, he would draw a line across the page, and give a mark based on what he'd read so far.  If that happened to be in the first paragraph, so be it.

His reasoning was that mathematical errors were simply inexcusable for engineers, and also that, if you couldn't communicate with proper grammar, you wouldn't be very useful as an employee or a consultant.  

It taught people to review their work carefully before submitting it.

RE: the sue of ...

(OP)
I normally review on content first.  If I can't understand it, then I go into grammar and spelling, often suggesting how the sentence might be reworded to convey the correct meaning.

What annoys me is when authors choose fonts where you cannot differentiate between 1 (one), l (lowercase L), I (uppercase i) and | (vertical bar).

RE: the sue of ...

Fonts can be really annoying...I also have a hate on for ads and business cards where the only place the company name appears is in some logo on super fancy font, and you can't actually determine what it says.

Especially in advertising, if you make your company name too hard to decipher, you're not going to get a response.

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