From Newsgroup: alt.english.usage

Greetings,

As you may be aware, there is a split in the spelling of the word newby/newbie; whilst newbie is the more commonly adopted one (especially beyond the Usenet sphere, although YMMV here) whereas newby is a rarer
one. I have seen it in legitimate usage before, but I would like to know whether it is a form of regional split, platform-based split, or just
personal preference. I think it is recognised universally however that
the plural is always spelt newbies, and newby only can function in the singular. I may be wrong though, as I've not spent a while on the
platform yet. Poetically, I myself am a newbie here. All input is much appreciated and I would like to hear what the community actually uses.
--
yoylelandGuy [2026, he/they]
Thunderbird 31.8.0 and Windows XP SP3.
"Woe to thee and woe to the binary!" - Shakespeare, probably.
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From Newsgroup: alt.english.usage

yoylelandGuy:

As you may be aware, there is a split in the spelling of the
word newby/newbie; whilst newbie is the more commonly adopted
one (especially beyond the Usenet sphere, although YMMV here)
whereas newby is a rarer one.

IMHO, `newby' in the sense of `newbie' is simply wrong, because
this noun-forming suffix is strictly -ie, eg.

-- selfie (not selfy)
-- groupie
-- cookie
-- movie
-- reverie
-- boatie
-- bookie

-- Thunderbird 31.8.0 and Windows XP SP3.

Sylpheed 3.7.0 and Windows XP Pro SP3.
--
() ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org -- against proprietary attachments
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From Newsgroup: alt.english.usage

On 25/01/2026 15:06, Anton Shepelev wrote:

IMHO, `newby' in the sense of `newbie' is simply wrong, because
this noun-forming suffix is strictly -ie.

Ah, that makes sense. It must be a rare form of the term since I've only
seen one occurrence of that spelling before.

Sylpheed 3.7.0 and Windows XP Pro SP3.

Nice choice of software there. Anyways, best regards.
--
yoylelandGuy
Thunderbird 31 - Windows XP
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From Newsgroup: alt.english.usage

yoylelandGuy to Anton Shepelev:

IMHO, `newby' in the sense of `newbie' is simply wrong,
because this noun-forming suffix is strictly -ie, eg.

Ah, that makes sense. It must be a rare form of the term
since I've only seen one occurrence of that spelling before.

Beare that often rare occurences are vulgar distortions that
have failed supplant correct forms. For example, the abominable
"different than/to" dates back the 17th century, but has always
remaned a rarity. It is easy understand why it is wrong. One
need only consider its origin from the verb /to differ/. To
quote my own e-mail a week ago:


to differ from -- different from
to diverge from -- divergent from
to depend (up)on -- dependent (up)on
to attend (up)on -- attendant (up)on
to coincide with -- coincident with
&c.


`different to' is obviously a vulgar error due rather to
ignorance of the language, than love for it. It is not a
genuine improvement or even a neutral change. In
biological terms, it is a bad mutation.

The word `Newby' looks like a toponym to me, similar to
(A stop at) Willoughby.
--
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From Newsgroup: alt.english.usage

On Sun, 25 Jan 2026 14:31:22 +0000, yoylelandGuy
<nobody@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Greetings,

As you may be aware, there is a split in the spelling of the word >newby/newbie; whilst newbie is the more commonly adopted one (especially >beyond the Usenet sphere, although YMMV here) whereas newby is a rarer
one. I have seen it in legitimate usage before, but I would like to know >whether it is a form of regional split, platform-based split, or just >personal preference. I think it is recognised universally however that
the plural is always spelt newbies, and newby only can function in the >singular. I may be wrong though, as I've not spent a while on the
platform yet. Poetically, I myself am a newbie here. All input is much >appreciated and I would like to hear what the community actually uses.

I use "newbie".

But what about "n00b"?
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.english.usage

On 26/01/2026 04:02, Steve Hayes wrote:

On Sun, 25 Jan 2026 14:31:22 +0000, yoylelandGuy
<nobody@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Greetings,

As you may be aware, there is a split in the spelling of the word
newby/newbie; whilst newbie is the more commonly adopted one (especially
beyond the Usenet sphere, although YMMV here) whereas newby is a rarer
one. I have seen it in legitimate usage before, but I would like to know
whether it is a form of regional split, platform-based split, or just
personal preference. I think it is recognised universally however that
the plural is always spelt newbies, and newby only can function in the
singular. I may be wrong though, as I've not spent a while on the
platform yet. Poetically, I myself am a newbie here. All input is much
appreciated and I would like to hear what the community actually uses.

I use "newbie".

But what about "n00b"?

Hmm. Do dictionaries include head words containing non-alphabetic
characters?
If not, should they?
--
Sam Plusnet
p@$$w0rd
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