Correct spelling for..........

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Which is the correct spelling?
A) ebook
B) eBook
c) e-book
D) E-Book
E) does it matter?
#ebook
  • Profile picture of the author domainarama
    Language is always changing. What was correct yesterday could be incorrect tomorrow.

    As far as spelling is concerned, you might want to use the spelling most people use today. That might or might not be the spelling in the dictionary today. The dictionary might be behind the times.

    There is a general rule in language called Zipf's Law (it's not a Law, but that's another issue). It says that the more frequently a term is used the simpler it becomes. In the case of ebook, maybe at one time people inserted hyphens in the spelling. The more the word was used the less frequently people added hyphens. That narrows your choices down to eBook vs ebook. I would guess that some people used and maybe still use eBook. But over time eBook will inevitably be displaced by ebook, which is simpler.

    But I don't know if everyone follows this convention today. If I were a betting dude I would bet that eventually ebook will be the dominant spelling.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by domainarama View Post

      If I were a betting dude I would bet that eventually ebook will be the dominant spelling.
      If you were a betting man, you couldn't bet, because it already is!
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      • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
        Interesting article about it here:

        Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

        From that article:

        Richard Adams describes an experiment he ran with his per click advertising. He ran ads with three different spellings of e-book: Ebook, ebook, and eBook.

        According to his results, Ebook and ebook got about the same number of clicks, but eBook was a disaster. His conclusion:

        When using pay per click advertising, if your ad contains the word "ebook" never spell it as eBook.

        The other spelling options can all by semantics but looks like spelling it wrong for PPC can cost you money.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    English doesn't capitalize items like this just because they are nouns. If it is at the beginning of a sentence, the e would be capitalized. Because e is short for electronic, I would THINK the hyphen would be more correct.

    But I HAVE generally just said ebook.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author kokopelli
    I prefer ebook or, sometimes, eBook ... just my personal choice, not saying it's correct or anything ...
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  • Profile picture of the author iidesu
    I would choose the option (E).
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    • Profile picture of the author domainarama
      It's okay with me too.

      For those of you not in on the inside joke, 'iidesu' is the Japanese word for 'okay'
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  • Profile picture of the author Melvin San Miguel
    Out of all the options I would go for the first one a) ebook
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  • Profile picture of the author Sunfyre7896
    All of the above as I've seen it spelled all those ways and read somewhere that all are correct so does it matter? I choose E. I choose E. oooh oooh. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author taskemann
    In Microsoft Word, "eBook" is the right term.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChargeBacks
    No E-book?
    i choose this one.
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  • Profile picture of the author kattehudson
    I prefer ebook it would go for this option.
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  • Profile picture of the author GT
    I believe e-book is the most appropriate term ...

    ... However, I prefer to use eBook.

    GT
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