22

In my personal usage, the words "analog" and "analogue" are allocated to two different meanings of the word.

One refers specifically to non-digital signals, for example:

The analog clock reads 5:37.

The phonograph only works with analog signals.

While the other is used in the sense of reference to another material:

The remotely activated webcams built in to laptops are a chilling analogue to the telescreens in George Orwell's 1984.

I have a similar split between "dialog" and "dialogue", which refer specifically to a message window on a computer GUI and spoken conversation respectively.

However, in all the language packs for software that I've ever encountered, the words will always exclusively be analog and dialog or analogue and dialogue, for American and British English respectively. Similarly, when I see most people type these words, they will usually use "dialog" to refer to spoken conversation and be American, or use "dialogue" for the message window and be British.

My question is, is this analog/analogue split a regional variation in Canadian spelling, or is it just something I've picked up personally? Does anyone else, or any other group of people, make this distinction?

Community
  • 1
Joe Z.
  • 3,238
  • 7
  • 27
  • 34
  • 5
    I think it's just you. I had a similar impression about 'disoriented' versus 'disorientated'... http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/204767/disoriented-vs-disorientated/204784 There should be a word for this effect, whereby a particular regional spelling variation is used more often in a particular context. – A E Nov 07 '14 at 19:17
  • 1
    Coming from a Computer Science background, the distinction between "analog/analogue" is known to me, but I haven't noticed "dialog/dialogue" ever. – BlackVegetable Nov 07 '14 at 19:17
  • 1
    Dialog does not only refer to computers. It also refers to spoken conversations. The two are just alternate spellings. I assume the same is for analog, which I have seen spelled analogue for electrical stuff in the past, particularly in BrE. – Oldcat Nov 07 '14 at 19:18
  • 2
    It may or may not be regional or Canadian, but it's just a variation in spelling, not a variation in meaning. Spelling variation is normal and does not indicate anything except that different people prefer different spellings. – John Lawler in exile Nov 07 '14 at 19:20
  • @Oldcat I know "dialog" is used to refer to conversation in American English. I'm asking whether the decision not to do so is regionally inherent somewhere. – Joe Z. Nov 07 '14 at 19:21
  • possible duplicate of What is the analog equivalent of 'digitally'? – WS2 Nov 07 '14 at 23:19
  • The Canadian half of me completely agrees with your distinction, but the British half of me also wants to say that they are alternative spellings for both senses. – Octopus Nov 07 '14 at 23:47
  • I think I might tend to use "analogue" for the telescreens -- it just conveys the sense you want. "Analog" for the computer is embedded too deeply in my brain, since I've used analog computers on several occasions since 1968. (Dialog is dialog -- would never use "dialogue".) – Hot Licks Nov 08 '14 at 01:06
  • @Octopus I know that they're alternate spellings for both meanings, but I was wondering whether certain people distinguished between the two in their own writing, not necessarily in what they thought was correct. – Joe Z. Nov 08 '14 at 03:01
  • @JoeZ. I found this question wondering the exact same thing as you! I think I'll just settle for "analog" though based on the other responses… – Sophie Alpert Oct 03 '15 at 01:32
  • To expand on my earlier note, "analog" is very well established as the "antonym" of "digital" (even though the two are not technically antonyms of each other). But I would tend to use "analogue" when describing something that is the conceptual analogy of something else. Eg, "Amazon is not really a new concept but simply an analogue of the Sears catalog of 1950". (OK, poor analogy, but the best I could come up with on short notice.) – Hot Licks Mar 20 '17 at 00:22
  • The difference in analog/analogue and dialog/dialogue may merely be that dropping the silent "ue" is a more modern spelling, thus relating to more modern things. – Xanne Mar 20 '17 at 01:44
  • I remember reading somewhere that "dialog" was specifcally coined (as opposed to "dialogue") to describe the pop-up boxes on computer screens. I might have seen it in the Microsoft Style Guide, but I can't be sure. – Shawn V. Wilson Jan 14 '18 at 17:03
  • Having a background in computers and engineering I fall broadly into the British camp with analog(ue) and program(me). I can't help noting that some contributors to this thread write of alternative spellings and others write of alternate spellings, which to me are something quite different. – Duckspindle Jul 26 '22 at 20:39

4 Answers4

11

Dialog vs dialogue and analog vs analogue are simply spelling differences, and are not recognized in any major dictionary (that I was able to find) as having distinct definitions.

Technological vocabulary, specifically related to electrical and computer engineering, prefers the shorter forms, and because of this we are seeing those forms being adopted in places where the more traditional form would otherwise be preferred.

My guess is that this is similar to the distinction drawn between theater and theatre, where some American speakers in the theater community treat the words as being distinct, though no formalized or widely recognized distinction exists.

Nick2253
  • 4,506
  • 2
    Speaking of theater and theatre, the words center and centre are also used as "midpoint" and "building/place" respectively. – Joe Z. Nov 07 '14 at 21:22
  • 4
    Similarly, nearly everybody programs computers, even though programme is the standard spelling in the U.K. – Peter Shor Nov 07 '14 at 21:26
  • @JoeZ., actually, center vs centre is exactly like theater vs theater. Some people make the distinction, but it is not widely know or formally recognized: http://grammarist.com/spelling/center-centre/ – Nick2253 Nov 07 '14 at 23:55
  • 2
    Obviously if you have "shoppes" they're at a "shopping centre", though, not a "shopping center". – Hot Licks Nov 08 '14 at 01:09
  • @PeterShor: True, although that's a slightly different case (IMHO), because "program" is being used as a verb. OTOH, it would be very unusual to see "computer programme"; I suppose "program" in the computer sense has become a jargon word, and the spelling standardised in that context. Perhaps "dialogue / dialog" will suffer the same fate. I prefer "dialogue" in normal writing, but of course I have to use "dialog" when writing GUI code, and it's silly (and confusing) to use "dialog" in the active code but "dialogue" in the program's comments. :) – PM 2Ring Nov 08 '14 at 04:23
  • 1
    @PeterShor You wrote "nearly everybody programs computers, even though programme is the standard spelling in the U.K." <---- No, programme is the spelling in the UK for a television programme or programme as in agenda. But when it comes to computer programming, everybody even in the UK, says program and programming, so the American spelling of program is used in the UK, for programming / writing a computer program. – barlop Nov 27 '18 at 15:05
  • @barlop: that's exactly what I meant. – Peter Shor Jul 26 '22 at 13:36
7

While many on both sides of the Atlantic don't make a distinction for the context, you're certainly not alone in making that distinction. For example, see http://grammarist.com/spelling/analog-analogue/

As a fellow Canadian, I have to make decisions about when to use British and when to use US spellings, due to the fact that we're relatively free to choose, aren't we. As a result, I/we probably come across these distinctions more often than people who don't check because they feel bound by their national spelling. I like it, and find it useful, when such differences can be used to distinguish meanings or contexts. Why not preserve the nuances, I say! So, yes, preserve the distinction.

wordloom
  • 71
  • 1
    Could not agree more. Nuances are important for expression, also I think there is a distinction between what is technically correct and what is merely accepted, therefore I believe this should be the accepted answer.I am, however, just a Brit stuck in his ways. – Sworrub Wehttam Jan 18 '17 at 13:53
1

Some words come from the French and have changed spelling when passing into the English language, sometimes in the States and not in Britain, e.g. center (USA) and centre (British and French). This is the same for analogue which is a French word that has the same meaning in French and English

The Frog
  • 599
-1

I never recall actually seeing or using “dialog” ever…. But I see analog as referring to tech and analogue referring to drug analogues for example. Center is meaning midpoint and centre is a place however, if a place of business or purpose goes by, say, “the Centered Center for Holistic Healing ad Wellness” (made up) I would use their chosen spelling. And theater and theatre are similar…. I’ll use theater more for movie theater and theatre for stage performance. The “re” tends to get utilized for buildings in my world….SJ NJ USA. I think in the US the alternate usage and spelling of words like “shoppes” is just to give more prestige and distinguish the business from others. No more no less.

user458332
  • 1