Date: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 15:19:14 EST From: GarethB2 Subject: Re: Deletia (Was Re: Dilbert for WOTY?) In a message dated 1/2/98 5:37:08 PM, downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU wrote: >Is this a latinism indicating that there was "deleted wording" here? How is >it formed, I mean morphologically? (Not being sarcastic here, just honestly >curious.) I know the philological/editorial term "delenda" (things to be >deleted; cf. memoranda "things to be remembered"), but not "deletia." I have no idea about the etymology of "deletia." It's an old Usenet convention. It's not in the New Hacker's Dictionary, but it is in the MS Computer Dictionary (3rd Edition): deletia n. Omitted material. The term is used in responses to Usenet or mailing list messages to indicate that some unnecessary material has been excluded from the incorporated message being answered. I wonder if it's not a blending of delete+minutia, but that would just be a wild guess. Also, given the hacker propensity for humorous "pendatry-joshing" coinages, it very well could be "deliberately fractured Latin." I'll ask around. -------------------------------------------------- Gareth Branwyn garethb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com, http://home.earthlink.net/~garethb2/ Contributing editor, Wired Co-author _Happy Mutant Handbook_ , _Internet Power Toolkit_ Author, _Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati_