The Court Reporters - messages #68577

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Wordsmiths' Corner

Taser/taser

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#1 of 10 Posted Nov-4 4:29 PM

From Karen Morris Posts 166 Last Nov-24
To All [Msg # 68577.1 ]

Should "Taser" be capped? Has it become one of the words that's been used so much that now it is lowercase?

And if it should be capped, how about "tase" as in: Did he tase him?

Thanks,

Karen

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#2 of 10 Posted Nov-4 4:52 PM

From kpbabln Posts 651 Last 9:51 AM
To Karen Morris [Msg # 68577.2 68577.1 ]

Per Wiki:

Taser is an acronym, named for a fictional weapon: Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle.^[11]^[12] Taser is a registered trademark. It has prompted a backformed verb to tase, which means to use a Taser on; however, to taser is also commonly used.

Stephanie, RPR, CA CSR

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#3 of 10 Posted Nov-4 6:01 PM

From Timothy J. McGowan [Sysop] Posts 8507 Last 11:22 AM
To Karen Morris [Msg # 68577.3 68577.1 ]

Karen:

SearchMaster shows "tase," "Taser," "taser," "TASER," "Tasered," "tasered," "Tasering," and "tasering."

Technically an acronym (Thomas A. Swift's Electronic Rifle), it's swiftly moved on to initial uppercase only. And it seems to me it will soon be strictly lowercase like scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) and radar (RAnge Detecting And Ranging) have become.

At this point, I think I would treat taser as I would dumpster or kleenex: If I know it's the specific brand itself that's being referenced, I would cap it; otherwise, I'm going to assume it's a generic reference to that type of product.

-- Tim

McGowanReporting.com

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#4 of 10 Posted Nov-4 6:04 PM

From Jim Barker [CRF Administrator] Posts 7118 Last Nov-24
To Timothy J. McGowan [Sysop] [Msg # 68577.4 68577.3 ]

Hello, Tim.

At this point, I think I would treat taser as I would dumpster or kleenex: If I know it's the specific brand itself that's being referenced, I would cap it; otherwise, I'm going to assume it's a generic reference to that type of product.

Bingo!

Jim Barker, CRF Administrator
Developer of SearchMaster
searchmaster.jim@gmail.com

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