[Sugar-devel] [DESIGN] Default ad-hoc networks

[Isaac Dupree]

On 05/06/10 18:01, Paul Fox wrote:
> heh.  i was really kind of rooting for "impromptu", myself.  it
> sounds like a lot more fun than "ad hoc".  "Come on over!  We're
> having an ad hoc party!", just doesn't have the same ring to it.  :-)
>
> ahem.
>
> i think ad hoc is really two words, and shouldn't be hyphenated.
> i'm sure one of our fluent latin speakers can help here.

Ah, Grammar!  Summary: Today, "ad hoc" is definitely correct and 
"ad-hoc" depends on how much of a stickler is the grammarian you ask.

The Latin phrase is indeed two words.  Also, Latin grew up at a time 
when hyphens didn't exist either.  Also, we're using "ad hoc" as an 
*English* adjective; both with and without hyphen are used; either way 
is, by the rules of English grammar, two words.  For most adjectives in 
this situation we would use a hyphen: consider the ambiguity of
"hot pink bunnies"
do we mean "hot-pink bunnies, the brightly colored creatures that 
decorated the pages of Muse magazine instead of cats-vs.-dogs." 
("hot-pink" applies to "bunnies")
or
"hot, pink bunnies ran limply from the sweltering heat of the fire." 
("hot" applies to bunnies, "pink" applies to bunnies, but "hot" does not 
apply to "pink" or vice versa)

The only reason "ad hoc" can get away with not having a hyphen is 
because it's a well-known phrase that cannot be split up. (You can't 
have an "ad network" or a "hoc network" -- except if "ad" is short for 
"advertising" which is an entirely different word!)  In fact, the 
without-hyphen version is rather more standard.  I personally think it 
doesn't really matter.  A book publisher would make us use "ad hoc", but 
we're not in that business of producing books, marketed to people who 
read lots of prose, that will of necessity sit on shelves unmodified for 
decades.  Probably a few decades ago "ad-hoc" was less popular, and a 
century from now who knows where we'll be, but that's where we are now.

however, I also rather prefer "impromptu" or "informal"!  One site 
suggested "spontaneous" also.  Unless we're trying to be consistent with 
established English usage, in which case we might want to choose "ad hoc 
networks" (assuming these networks really are the same concept as the 
well-known term "ad hoc networks", and not something that's much more 
specific/idiosyncratic -- judging by [1] etc, I think it's pretty close 
to that concept)

[1] http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/devel/2009-December/026831.html

-Isaac