Until fairly recently the usual convention for abbreviating microphone was "mike". However, latterly, I've regularly seen it written "mic" instead.

Does it appear thus on the other side of the Pond? Has anyone any idea when (and why) it changed?

arnie: After 78 rpm in Leftpond I have never seen it spelled mic

However I will query my No. 1 Son Lee Scott who is only 33 rpm and may be up on the latest

I've seen both. I tend to use mic. A mic is also slang for microgram, e.g., 100 mics of acid.

zm, where is R'lyeh

where is R'lyeh

R'lyeh is currently at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area these days.

If I see "mic" I tend to read it as if it's pronounced "Mick". Perhaps it originated in Ireland?

"Bicycle" and "tricycle" are shortened to "bike" and "trike"; I've never seen "bic" or "tric" (apart from the name of a make of ball-point pen for the former).

quote:

"Bicycle" and "tricycle" are shortened to "bike" and "trike"

Which is why I refuse to use the oxymoronic term "quad bike" when referring to a quadricycle.

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
Thought it looked familiar.

Whoops!

Old age is coming faster than I thought! And I started that thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard English:
[QUOTE]
Which is why I refuse to use the oxymoronic term "quad bike" when referring to a quadricycle.

Then say, "bike bike!" Or, "bi-bike."

quote:

Then say, "bike bike!" Or, "bi-bike."

Why create another word when two perfectly good words exist? Quadricycle and its abbreviation, quad., are not only correct but follow in the series of names for other wheeled vehicles: unicycle, bicycle and tricycle.

The name was common in the 19th and early 20th century and was often used to describe small, four-wheeled motorised vehicles (along with many other names) before term "car" and "automobile" became universal.

bike, trike, quike?

quote:

Originally posted by Richard English:

quote:

Then say, "bike bike!" Or, "bi-bike."

Why create another word when two perfectly good words exist?

I know you'll never believe it, but I was being silly.

Because bicycle and tricycle are from Greeks roots I suggest tetracycle, which sounds like an antibiotic, but then no word is perfect. If you look at the structure of tetracycline you can even see the four wheels—well, hexagons. And what about those crazy dicycles?

OK, so how do you classify the biblical wheel of Ezekiel? (Wheel within a wheel)

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I know you'll never believe it, but I was being silly. Big Grin

Oh I believe it

how do you classify the biblical wheel of Ezekiel?

Rotae Hiezecihelenses. But seriously:

et aspectus rotarum et opus earum quasi visio maris et una similitudo ipsarum quattuor et aspectus earum et opera quasi sit rota in medio rotae Ezek. I.16.

In Latin, rota in medio rotae, and in Greek ειη τροχος εν τροχω (eiē trokhos en trokhō), and in Hebrew on request.

This from the London Daily Mail regarding a certain "Mick"

Mick Forsythe, 55, is an
Irishman who lives in Wales. When he got into an argument with a woman
after a minor traffic accident, he screamed that she was an "English
bitch." That led to criminal charges -- not because of the accident or
the "B" word, but rather because of his "racially aggravated disorderly
behavior" for cursing the Welsh woman as "English". Forsythe was found
guilty and fined 200 pounds (US$404); a 10-week prison sentence was
suspended for 12 months. The case is "political correctness gone mad,"
Forsythe says. "They're officially calling me a racist."

I've only seen it written as mic, and I've always thought that funny as I'd think it would be pronounced with a short i.

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A mic is also slang for microgram, e.g., 100 mics of acid.

Slang? I am not sure I've heard slang for microgram, but when abbreviated, I've only seen it as mcg.

I was going to ask when they went from mike to mic but I noticed I'm several years behind. Story of my life.

I've only noticed in the last year or two and assumed it was recent. But the OED Online records it from 1961.

quote:

1961 A. BERKMAN Singers' Gloss. Show Business Jargon 58 Microphone: (Abbr. mike or mic).
1973 Sci. Amer. Apr. 2/1 (advt.) Eight input controls for complete mic/line mixing.
1986 Hi-Fi Answers Oct. 79/2 Nice single-point stereo mic recording using analogue equipment.
1997 DJ 30 Aug.-12 Sept. 45 He bitches into the mic, ‘Cameras ready, prepare to flash.’

It's funny because I wrote above in 2007 that I'd write mic, but now I am not sure. I don't know that I've written it before, but I sure pronounce it as mike.

Mic is "mike"
But not these;
tic
Bic
Vic
sic
And then there's "chic."

I couldn't sleep last night (terrible cold) and I got to thinking about "mic" and why that one word is pronounced differently. For example, there are lots of words ending in mic -- [i]endemic, atomic, rhythmic, comej to mind -- but none are pronouncerd "mike".

Then it occured to me that the reason for this misuse is probably due to the electronic industry. Manufacturers labelled the ports on musical and stereo equipment and "mic" was often put on the one for the microphone.

It reminds me of another abbreviated word we use...fave for favorite. I had always spelled it fav, but I was criticized for spelling it that way on OEDILF and was made to change the limerick (or not get it approved). I could see their point, I suppose, because of the long a, but I had always spelled it that way.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
I had always spelled it fav, but I was criticized for spelling it that way on OEDILF ...

What do they know?
As of this moment, GoogleNews (which lists the past 30-or-so days) has your version outnumbering fave by 1399 to 836.