I wrote
> > Probably not, unless the trend change is enormous or the random
> > variation miniscule. Fitting a three-degree-of-freedom model with ten
and Rich Ulrich commented
> = minuscule [ here is my minor effort to preserve the word ]
Your point, sir!
I *do* know that perfectly well, and the etymological reasons for it,
and all that, but it's one of those ones that slips when I type fast.
Sort of a typo in the brain, if you know what I mean.
My understanding is that this error begins with genuine confusion with
"minimum", and a folk-etymology conflating it with "miniature", which
apparently has nothing to do with smallness. It's from "minium", red
lead oxide, used as a pigment. Unfortunately, once you hear it, it's
contagious.
My mother has a story about somebody who started an entire English
department saying "verimisilitude"...
Whoops, maybe I shoudn't have typed that...
<grin, duck, & run>
-Robert
.
.
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