> In most varieties of English, disk is the preferred spelling for magnetic media (hence floppy disk, hard disk, disk drive), whereas disc is preferred for optical media (hence compact disc, digital versatile disc, optical disc).
> For all other uses, disk is preferred in American English and acceptable in Canadian English, and disc otherwise.
Also, disk is also used in "diskette", whereas disc stands alone. So as magnetic disks shrank and were called disketts on and off, they kept that spelling. Optical discs never really shrank over the years, never being called discettes.
When they shrank the disc it just became minidisc ;-) But that was technically MO, not just optical. And: it was in a cartridge so I suppose they really should have called it minidisk.
> Also, disk is also used in "diskette", whereas disc stands alone. So as magnetic disks shrank and were called disketts on and off, they kept that spelling. Optical discs never really shrank over the years, never being called discettes.
Lol. Old enough to remember when disks were three-dimensional, when you might need more than one hand to carry them. When they shrank we regularly called the newer/small model a diskette.
From wikipedia:
>> A floppy disk, diskette, or floppy diskette is a type of disk storage made from a thin, flexible disk coated with a magnetic storage medium. It is enclosed in a square or nearly square plastic shell lined with fabric to help remove dust from the spinning disk.
The term "disc" for storage predates optical media. "Disc" was the common spelling for a disk (like a floppy disk) on British 8-bit computers like Amstrad CPC or Sinclair Spectrum.[1][2]
It seems like the distinction simply comes from British and American preferences.[3]
I have no idea how Apple jumped to such an arbitrary conclusion.
Disk was already the standard spelling in the UK by 1984 (in a computing context), just as program was used in preference to programme. But Amstrad mistyped it as disc on the plastic mouldings for their first CPC, and were too cheap to change them. Consequently CPC 3in disks were always called discs even into the 90s.
This is goofy. The difference was originally regional (US/UK), and which caught on depended on which product dominated which sub-market. There's no semantic difference.
Philips is the company that came up with the term "Compact Disc" for CDs, so we can blame them for goofing up the regional spellings and making the world more confusing.
I think Alan Shugart (or at least his team at IBM) started calling portable data disks "floppy disks," and then "hard disk" emerged to differentiate rigid disks from bendy ones. Maybe we can also blame him and his team.
The important thing is that someone gets blamed. :D
There was a subculture communicating on FIDOnet about collecting AOL installation media (3.5" disks) and reusing them. Somehow we ended up coining the term "bisk" to refer to AOL's given-away media, and much sadness was had when they moved to CDs.
So add one more to the list: a commercial disk reused for your custom .WAD files can be a bisk.
Always thought that “disc” was the original word for an object of a certain shape. As they evolved for computer storage, we got smaller diskettes… which were abbreviated to disks.
Yes it did. They were magnetic disks. And they were floppy. The outer case of a 3.5" was solid but just rip it open and you can see the disk itself is floppy.
Edit: oh right, you're talking about the different spellings. Those were entirely arbitrary. We mixed between the two.
When I was much more active in Reddit did one time a meme for r/peloton of Froome yelling at disc brakes - but wrote it as "Old man yells at disk brakes".
Nobody told me anything so I guessed it was good grammar and such.
But then noticed everyone calls them "disc brakes"
Both versions are disque in French. (presumably disquette for "diskette") Don't blame the French for this.
The fact of the matter is that the spelling "disk" probably entered common use from IBM who invented both the hard and the floppy disk, calling the latter the Type 1 Diskette. Enough people were exposed to the "disk" spelling from IBM usage that it kind of stuck, although in the early 1980s the spelling "floppy disc" was sometimes encountered.
> For all other uses, disk is preferred in American English and acceptable in Canadian English, and disc otherwise.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disk#Usage_notes
How old are you? Nothing you said is accurate.
From wikipedia: >> A floppy disk, diskette, or floppy diskette is a type of disk storage made from a thin, flexible disk coated with a magnetic storage medium. It is enclosed in a square or nearly square plastic shell lined with fabric to help remove dust from the spinning disk.
It seems like the distinction simply comes from British and American preferences.[3]
I have no idea how Apple jumped to such an arbitrary conclusion.
[1] Kempston Disc Interface manual: https://k1.spdns.de/Vintage/Sinclair/82/Peripherals/Disc%20I...
[2] Amstrad Disc Drive Interface manual: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/imgs/3/3f/DDI-1_User_Manual.pdf
[3] Etymonline entry for "disk": https://www.etymonline.com/word/disk
https://archive.org/details/BBCUG/page/n19/mode/2up?q=disc
I think Alan Shugart (or at least his team at IBM) started calling portable data disks "floppy disks," and then "hard disk" emerged to differentiate rigid disks from bendy ones. Maybe we can also blame him and his team.
The important thing is that someone gets blamed. :D
Trying to explain arbitrary words with logic always fails.
So add one more to the list: a commercial disk reused for your custom .WAD files can be a bisk.
[Did I pass the interview? No? Understandable.]
skeptic - someone inclined to question or doubt what they sense magnetically.
[Edit. Sorry, misread your comment as saying "entomology."]
Edit: oh right, you're talking about the different spellings. Those were entirely arbitrary. We mixed between the two.
Disk = round part hidden or no round part
Have I got it!?
All of that “in the UK”.
Looking at the store, they’re using “SSD Storage” for SSD.
Disk was used by American companies inventing hard disks, floppy disks etc.
British software often used "disc" for both, e.g. RISC OS on Acorn/ARM/Raspberry Pi [1].
[1] https://arcwiki.org.uk/index.php/RISC_OS_3 (see screenshot)
Bring back recursive acronyms!
A disc is a disk-shaped object, such as in the form of a plastic dingus: Frisbee flying disc.
"Disc" is the correct spelling of the flat circular thing.
"Disk" was invented by someone in the 1980s either as an attempt at a trade name, or because they couldn't spell.
Then other people continued the mis spelling.
Nobody told me anything so I guessed it was good grammar and such.
But then noticed everyone calls them "disc brakes"
My late father never quite got out of the habit of calling it the "Winchester" - itself a nickname for a specific IBM drive model.
They used to be separate, so you would mount the hard disk on the drive to make it accessible.
Of course now everything tends to be solid state even terms like "drive" are becoming less common.
"Disc" comes from "discus" (the plate thrown in the Olympics)
"Disk" comes from "diskette" (French for "small disc")
I probably just outed myself as a boomer assuming that was common knowledge.
In French we say disque for both. it's pronounced the same as disk and disc.
The fact of the matter is that the spelling "disk" probably entered common use from IBM who invented both the hard and the floppy disk, calling the latter the Type 1 Diskette. Enough people were exposed to the "disk" spelling from IBM usage that it kind of stuck, although in the early 1980s the spelling "floppy disc" was sometimes encountered.