Here's a plea for precision, or a piece of pedantry
if you prefer. But then a lot of us wouldn't be here
if we didn't value the Stata commitment to getting
things exactly right.
The software we are discussing is called Stata,
_not_ STATA. That all-caps spelling was used briefly
for a while in the mid-1980s, but has long since been
abandoned. As the Statalist FAQ makes clear -- at
http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/statalist.html#spell --
"Stata" is the correct spelling. First, StataCorp, as they
now are, decided that, and that's their right. Second,
the word is not an acronym, but an invented word, so
current linguistic conventions point the same way.
If you don't care about getting it right, please
consider this:
1. You are identifying yourself as someone who hasn't
read the Statalist FAQ, or at least not carefully. Please
go back and read it, especially before posting. Reading
that FAQ is a tacit condition on those posting to the
list.
2. Some of us reading that spelling feel
a small stab of pain every time we see it,
or even a synaesthetic feeling that someone's SHOUTING.
Nick
[email protected]
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
