How is the past tense of "error" spelt in British English?

Question

Wiktionary says that it's "errored", but its entry for errored doesn't explicitly say it's valid for British English, and I thought it'd get another "r" compared to American English.

This question is not a duplicate of Is "errored" correct usage? , because this is asking about spelling, and the other question is about whether using "error" as a verb is "correct" from a prescriptivist perspective.

Since error is a noun derived from the verb to err, I must agree with Dan Bron; I have simply never seen error used as a verb. — Anonym, May 05 '15 at 03:00
@Mari-LouA there wasn't a strong consensus that "error" can't be verbed. — Golden Cuy, May 05 '15 at 07:22
Could you provide an example sentence with the "verb" to error? Are you asking if in BrEng it should be written as "errorred"? Why should the letter -r be doubled? To pepper (past) peppered — Mari-Lou A, May 05 '15 at 07:27
What do you mean by "no" that you cannot provide a sentence example? Why were you interested in its spelling then? (mouse hovers perilously over down arrow at this point) — Mari-Lou A, May 05 '15 at 07:33
It was intended as a form of humour, a nudge, a joke. I should add smileys :) :) :) — Mari-Lou A, May 05 '15 at 10:19
If this is not a duplicate of the question mentioned because it is asking about spelling, it's still off topic. Where's your evidence that BrEng spells it as errorred? You're basing your question on a false premise. NOT my downvote. — Mari-Lou A, May 05 '15 at 10:21

Tushar Raj · Answer 1 · 2015-05-05T10:23:49.613

3

According to oxford, error isn't a verb.

Err is, and here are its forms:

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Not to knock wiktionary, but I wouldn't consider errored a verb form. Note that the entry doesn't cite any examples for this sense. Its examples as an adjective seem passable, though, especially in a technical sense.

The mean number of errored bits per errored symbol is therefore...

edited May 05 '15 at 10:23

answered May 05 '15 at 06:45

Tushar Raj

21,025

I suspect the "errored" bits were actually "erroneous", perhaps due to being "corrupted" in transmission. Anyway, +1 for a good answer. One Wiktionary example does not make it proper usage. – Brian Hitchcock May 05 '15 at 06:55
Fwiw, OED also has error as a verb but with a rather specific use regarding court decisions. – Håkan Lindqvist May 05 '15 at 06:59
@Mari-LouA: This is embarrassing. I blame muscle memory :) – Tushar Raj May 05 '15 at 07:13
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@HåkanLindqvist It it worth noting, though, that they only cite it as being included in the 1828 Webster dictionary. Tellingly, the 1913 Webster does not have it. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 05 '15 at 10:22
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Of course to error does not mean to err. That's why it exists in the first place. A program that errors does not err. In fact it probably functions precisely the way you wrote it. You may have erred, but the program errors. – RegDwigнt May 05 '15 at 10:29
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@RegDwigнt: Or the program encounters an error, as the top answer to your linked question proposes, and as most people around me put it. – Tushar Raj May 05 '15 at 10:32
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@RegDwigнt Been a while since my programming days, but we never used error as a verb that way. We did use to segfault in a similar sense, and on occasion errored out, and of course threw an error was a commonly-seen synonym for threw an exception, but much more frequently programs choked, croaked, died, etc. Why, in the good old days of Perl, those were even keywords (as was carp)! – Dan Bron May 05 '15 at 10:36
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@Dan: yes, same here, but that's sort of beside the point. When the program segfaults, or chokes, or freezes, or dies, or errors out, or throws an exception, that still does not mean that it errs. It might or might not err. It only errs if it errors erroneously. – RegDwigнt May 05 '15 at 12:42

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

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The entry for error (v) in OED has not been updated since 1891. As such, it's unlikely to include modern usages which arise from computing. Even the Oxford Dictionary of Computing is now six years old, which is rather a long time in the field.

Error is used as a verb. It's jargon, and means "produce an error message" or "fail with an error condition" or some such similar event.

(verb) What a program does when it stops as result of a programming error.

FOLDOC

Because it's computing jargon, it would probably sound out of place when used in other circumstances. It would be incorrect to say that I had errored in constructing this answer.

Computing jargon is generally spelled with American spellings, even in British English. Program and its derivatives are the obvious examples; many languages' verbs are spelled with a -z- spelling (like Oracle's ANALYZE function). Consequently, even if British English doubled the consonant for errorred it would be unlikely to persist.

In fact, there are rules for the doubling of consonants in English [see another ELU question]. There may be exceptions to those rules, but

error doesn't appear to be an exception (ends in schwa, so final consonant stays single);
its usage comes directly from American English (AmE doubles consonants far more rarely);
there is no separate entry in Wiktionary or FOLDOC indicating a transatlantic difference.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered May 05 '15 at 10:35

Andrew Leach

101,901

Is the spelling of past tense of ‘prefer’ identical in both dialects (BrEng and AmEng); i.e. preferred? Is there a single case where the letter -r is not doubled before the suffix-ed in AmEng? I can't think of one. – Mari-Lou A May 05 '15 at 11:07
If you can answer this, I'll retract my vote to close this question. The downvote is not mine. – Mari-Lou A May 05 '15 at 11:10
I couldn't say about AmE. The final syllable of prefer is accented (so not a schwa) in BrE, so the consonant is doubled. But a single case you ask for is errored. – Andrew Leach May 05 '15 at 11:12
In that case, I don't understand your point. – Andrew Leach May 05 '15 at 11:15
Yes, but the spelling is the same for AmEng and BrEng. That's my point. Compare AmEng traveled and BrEng travelled, which is well documented. Most dictionaries list their different spellings. My point being that the OP is asking about a different way of spelling (errored), which he already found in a dictionary, and yet asks if BrEng spells it differently. He's done the research but he believes the opposite is true, based on what? – Mari-Lou A May 05 '15 at 11:23
Aha. I see; yes, travelled is an apparent exception, which is presumably covered by the "It's like that just because it is" rule! I'll adjust the answer; it would have been helpful if the downvoter had actually said what wasn't useful. – Andrew Leach May 05 '15 at 11:38
@Mari-LouA: the "r" is not doubled in "powered," "centered," "murdered," "answered." There are lots of examples. – herisson Jul 05 '16 at 20:47
@sumelic I don't understand your comment, pardon me if I'm not up to speed on the question and the answers, but the OP is asking if errorred could be considered correct in BrEng. Based on what? That powered doesn't have a double "r" before -ed? – Mari-Lou A Jul 05 '16 at 21:26
@Mari-LouA: I meant to reapond to " Is there a single case where the letter -r is not doubled before the suffix-ed in AmEng?" – herisson Jul 05 '16 at 21:28
@sumelic sorry I didn't read my earlier comment. All clear now. – Mari-Lou A Jul 05 '16 at 21:30

How is the past tense of "error" spelt in British English?

2 Answers2