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Just be warned. I reported errors to Google when I was searching "sound on the goose" that still remain.
Emmett
Here is a study from MIT that used the Google word frequency data. The study says that word length is more influenced by information content than by frequency of use (an 80-year old theory).
This study is the first known to me that fulfils one of Google's reasons for building it--developing a resource so scholars can better study languages.
Emmett
Indeed. I recall an article I did back in the 90s where I needed to use the term that means "connecting to a computer-based interface." I wasn't sure what was correct, since the concept was still new, and I'd seen all these used: "logon" "log-on" "log on" "login" "log-in" "log in." Then it dawned on me to use Google and compare the hit counts (being sure to include the search term in quotes). The winner was the same back then, but I'll save you all the effort of checking. Here's today's hit counts …
logon: 22,100,000
log-on: 28,200,000
log on: 28,200,000 (Google doesn't "see" some punctuation even between quotes, and even when using "advanced search.")
login: 2,160,000,000
log-in: 795,000,000
log in: 795,000,000
The clear winner was, and still is, obvious. I'm just glad I didn't have to choose between "log-in" and "log in" since Google's handling of hyphens is a bit confusing. Their Search Help didn't (help). If anyone knows a way around this apparent limitation, I'd appreciate hearing it.
Yeah, that is kinda' odd. Maybe that's because "sign on" is what broadcasters do, and "sign in" is what people do at hotels and conventions, and that usage is not restricted to computer use? That's why my search was for terms all starting with "log."
Actually, I'm surprised you got as many hits as you did for "signon" and "signin." Spell-check suggests the non-hyphenated and hyphenated alternatives for each (but we all know the failings of spell-check). And I have to say I've rarely seen those run-together versions in print.
Seems to me it might just be too new a concept for the language to have reached equilibrium. Even the almighty Microsoft uses variations in its Knowledge Base (login and logon). But when used as an active verb, or as an adjective, it's almost always the unhyphenated "logging in/on" and "logged in/on," both of which have existing analogues (signed in, turned in, switched on, etc.) that provide a linguistic precedent.
Heimhenge said:
logon: 22,100,000
log-on: 28,200,000
log on: 28,200,000 (Google doesn't "see" some punctuation even between quotes, and even when using "advanced search.")
login: 2,160,000,000
log-in: 795,000,000
log in: 795,000,000The clear winner was, and still is, obvious. I'm just glad I didn't have to choose between "log-in" and "log in" since Google's handling of hyphens is a bit confusing. Their Search Help didn't (help). If anyone knows a way around this apparent limitation, I'd appreciate hearing it.
In my writing, I would use logon as a noun or an adjective, but log on as a verb phrase. (e.g. "This logon screen is confusing."; "With each logon, the client will be presented with a captcha."; "When you log on, you should verify that your security image is displayed on the logon screen.") The same with signon and sign on. If others write these the same way as I do, a frequency count simply won't tell you if one form is winning or not. It could be a matter of how often people are using the noun, adjective, and verb forms.
Don't get me started on my reasons for the above choices.
You can see creative user-submitted Google N-grams searches on the Ngrams tumblr blog.
I particularly like the comparison in usage of "macaroni", "spaghetti", and "pasta" and the usage history of various contractions (like "daren't).
I'm not sure Google N-grams existed, or maybe I just hadn't heard about it, at the time of my last post. But I ran all those variations of "log" just out of curiosity. Not surprisingly, all of them take off around 1980 which pretty well corresponds to the emergence of the internet. Running it for the terms "log on" and "log in" get's some activity previous to 1980, but that's not surprising either since the two words can be used in many non-computer contexts. Again, running the hyphenated terms "log-on" and "log-in" produces spurious results, probably because of the way Google handles hyphens (which I still don't fully understand).
And the winner (according to N-grams) is now "login" and not "logon" ... go figure.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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