From: "Robert A. Rosenberg" <hal9001@panix.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 22:54:17 +0800
To: abostick@netcom.com (Alan Bostick)
Subject: Re: [NOISE] Re: onyma
Message-ID: <v02140b00ad91d0732a58@[165.254.158.226]>
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At 10:04 4/10/96, Alan Bostick wrote:

>As an experienced professional in this field, I have learned that where
>rules of spelling, grammar, vocabulary come from is *usage*.  Words
>become accepted parts of the language because people start to use them.
>The acceptance of words is recognized by their adoption in to lexicons
>and dictionaries, but this is description, not prescription.
>
>If you want to be linguistically correct and ensure that 'onyma'
>prevails over 'nym,' you've got a lot of catching up to do.  'Nym' is
>is clearly established by usage on the Cypherpunks list, and I expect
>it's only a matter of time before it starts showing up in print media,
>if it hasn't already, and get listings in the Jargon File, then
>dictionaries, etc.
>
>You can't fight usage; it is usage that makes the language as she is
>spoke what it is.

I agree with you and I'll go further and state that the use of "nym" is due
to it being the suffix of all the terms that are lumped into it _AND_ is
spoken in them as a separate (and last) syllable. Use of ONYM would not be
as obvious since the "o" is _part_ of the prior syllable _not_ the prior
syllable (also none of the words use ONYMA so that is also not a good term
to the general public <g>). This is a case of using the last syllable of a
number of terms/words as a generic term for all of them (or the use of that
syllable as a generic suffix to other words to create a new term with the
connotation of that suffix's meaning [as in using -ism at the end of other
words]).