> Did someone with authority change the meaning of "circa" while my > back was turned? I always thought it meant "sometime around then" > and if so, then "sometime around 1967" can easily be "sometime > around 1968" or "sometime around 1966" -- at least until a real firm > fact can be found, at which point it becomes "before 31 Jun 1967" or > "after 15 Dec 1966" ... and even then, 1967 IS after 1966! > > Even for a dedicated nit-picker, this seems too small to fret over. > > Cheryl Singhals <singhals@erols.com> Well, ca capitalized would be California, or calcium, but this of course doesn't apply to your nit. <g> Seriously, though, what prompted the nit, i.e. where did you see it?

John Nichols wrote: > > Did someone with authority change the meaning of "circa" while my > > back was turned? I always thought it meant "sometime around then" > > and if so, then "sometime around 1967" can easily be "sometime > > around 1968" or "sometime around 1966" -- at least until a real firm > > fact can be found, at which point it becomes "before 31 Jun 1967" or > > "after 15 Dec 1966" ... and even then, 1967 IS after 1966! > > > > Even for a dedicated nit-picker, this seems too small to fret over. > > > > Cheryl Singhals <singhals@erols.com> > > Well, ca capitalized would be California, or calcium, but this of > course doesn't apply to your nit. <g> Or Carcinoma or Canada or Computer Associates or Cardiology Association ... > Seriously, though, what prompted the nit, i.e. where did you see > it? In a book, I published a date, which I had extrapolated, as "ca date1"; I have recently received an irate complaint that that date is seriously incorrect and that it should have been "ca date1 + 1" year. That's the sort of discrepancy I thought "ca" was intended to cover. Cheryl singhals <singhals@erols.com>