the plural & capitalization of bitcoin?

DiamondCardz

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Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on October 24, 2013, 01:26:16 PM

I should have known the British would fuck up my example.

Exceptions to every rule but generally currency units are plural.
1 dollar, 15 dollars
1 euro, 15 euros
1 ruble, 15 rubles
1 bitcoin, 15 bitcoins
1 milliBitcoin, 15 milliBitcoins

1 pound, 15 quid.

Seriously, us British don't do normal.

Anon136

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eh, if this thing ever goes mainstream everyone will just say bits anyway. "How much is that apple?", "Two bits please".

acoindr

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Interestingly the word coin itself can be both plural and singular: I dropped my coins. He inherits a lot of coin in the will.

While Merriam Webster doesn't show the plural use case and Oxford does, I believe those sentences are grammatically correct in both American and British English.

So I'd say as with much related to Bitcoin: do what you like Cheesy

Phinnaeus Gage

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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

Thanks to this thread, I'm now proud to be of Homo Semantics decent.

dserrano5

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Not a native speaker but:

Quote from: Jocky on October 26, 2013, 08:09:25 AM

"I've moved all of my Bitcoin to a cold wallet" - "Where did you put it?"

[…]

'All of my Bitcoin' sounds goot to me, but 'Where did you put it?' doesn't seem right.

"I've moved all of my sugar to another place" - "Where did you put it?"

Sounds right to me, and uncountable bitcoin is just the same.

Kouye

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I'd say:

1 Bitcoin
x Bitcoins
0.1 Bitcoin
0.x Bitcoins
0.0001 Bitcoin
0.000x Bitcoins

with x being anything else than 1 (101 is different than 1).

illpoet

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i has many bitcoinz!

Jocky

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Quote from: Micon on October 24, 2013, 12:47:45 PM

... should it be "Why do bitcoin have value?" because that sounds fucked when reading it in my head.

It sounds fucked becouse it's "Why does Bitcoin have value?".

Plural is difficult. The system revolves around chopping Bitcoin up and putting it back together so in essence there is not 'a Bitcoin'.
But this compare this:

"I've moved all of my Bitcoin to a cold wallet" - "Where did you put it?"
"I've moved all of my Bitcoins to a cold wallet" - "Where did you put them?"

'All of my Bitcoin' sounds goot to me, but 'Where did you put it?' doesn't seem right.
'All of my Bitcoins' can't be correct, however, I do like 'where did you put them?'.

Difficult...

Tirapon

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Quote from: Anon136 on October 25, 2013, 11:16:32 PM

Quote from: Micon on October 24, 2013, 12:47:45 PM

on capitalization, I like this lots:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Introduction#Capitalization_.2F_Nomenclature

Accepted practice is to use Bitcoin (singular with an upper case letter B) to label the protocol, software, and community, and bitcoins (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

but when it comes to the plural, I can't find solid info. Personally I've been using bitcoin as the plural.

"I have 5 bitcoin" instead of "I have 5 bitcoins"

then it gets hairy with fractions... do you have "0.8234 bitcoin" or "0.8234 bitcoins"

when looking at the SwC FAQ we write "Why do bitcoins have value?" should it be "Why do bitcoin have value?" because that sounds fucked when reading it in my head.

technically its bitcoinz

I like it. Can we make it official?

Phinnaeus Gage

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Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

Quote from: Anon136 on October 25, 2013, 11:16:32 PM

Quote from: Micon on October 24, 2013, 12:47:45 PM

on capitalization, I like this lots:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Introduction#Capitalization_.2F_Nomenclature

Accepted practice is to use Bitcoin (singular with an upper case letter B) to label the protocol, software, and community, and bitcoins (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

but when it comes to the plural, I can't find solid info. Personally I've been using bitcoin as the plural.

"I have 5 bitcoin" instead of "I have 5 bitcoins"

then it gets hairy with fractions... do you have "0.8234 bitcoin" or "0.8234 bitcoins"

when looking at the SwC FAQ we write "Why do bitcoins have value?" should it be "Why do bitcoin have value?" because that sounds fucked when reading it in my head.

technically its bitcoinz

Did you mean internetly?

bitspill

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Quote from: Abdussamad on October 25, 2013, 11:19:59 PM

technically it is btc or if you are anal about it BTC

Or is it technically XBT?

Abdussamad

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technically it is btc or if you are anal about it BTC

Anon136

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Quote from: Micon on October 24, 2013, 12:47:45 PM

on capitalization, I like this lots:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Introduction#Capitalization_.2F_Nomenclature

Accepted practice is to use Bitcoin (singular with an upper case letter B) to label the protocol, software, and community, and bitcoins (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

but when it comes to the plural, I can't find solid info. Personally I've been using bitcoin as the plural.

"I have 5 bitcoin" instead of "I have 5 bitcoins"

then it gets hairy with fractions... do you have "0.8234 bitcoin" or "0.8234 bitcoins"

when looking at the SwC FAQ we write "Why do bitcoins have value?" should it be "Why do bitcoin have value?" because that sounds fucked when reading it in my head.

technically its bitcoinz

b!z

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Bitcoins - plural, capitalized.

Abdussamad

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I just use lower case bitcoin or bitcoins for everything. Uppercase Bitcoin just looks odd to me except when it is at the beginning of a sentence.

LiteCoinGuy

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Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: dserrano5 on October 24, 2013, 03:08:51 PM

Quote from: LiteCoinGuy on October 24, 2013, 02:03:31 PM

but in german you only say Euro and not Euros.

Yeah, I don't see "euros" that much. "50 euros" sounds just weird.

In spanish, though, we do use plural.

Yeah, I didn't hear it either.
50 euro is much better.
Depends on the language though.

but in the case of bitcoin i would say: 1 bitcoin
10 bitcoinS Cheesy

Phinnaeus Gage

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Quote from: Foxpup on October 25, 2013, 02:20:23 AM

Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on October 25, 2013, 01:56:21 AM

Is 0.5 considered one unit?

No, but a half is, just like 1000 is not one unit, but a kilo is. One kilo, two kilos, one half kilo, and so on.

I see my error.

I have 0.5 bitcoins.
I have a .5 bitcoin.

Albeit not common to say it that way, the keyword in the phrase is "a", thus one unit.

Question: If a mugger said, "Give me your bitcoin!", do I had over to him the protocol or a single bitcoin?

Foxpup

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Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on October 25, 2013, 01:56:21 AM

Is 0.5 considered one unit?

No, but a half is, just like 1000 is not one unit, but a kilo is. One kilo, two kilos, one half kilo, and so on.

Phinnaeus Gage

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Quote from: Foxpup on October 24, 2013, 11:50:28 PM

Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on October 24, 2013, 09:24:25 PM

Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on October 24, 2013, 12:51:18 PM

Um the plural usage is right there in your quote.

Quote

and bitcoins (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

Do you also say I won five hundred dollar or man prices in the UK were expensive that [...] was 10 pound.

It is units of currency thus it is plural. The only time the units of currency is singular is when it is one unit.

That will be one dollar.
That will be one bitcoin.

That will be two dollars
That will be two bitcoins.

I have a half dollar. I have .5 dollars.

But that's still one unit. A half is a unit. I have two half dollars. That makes one whole dollar. Simple.

Is 0.5 considered one unit?

Foxpup

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Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on October 24, 2013, 09:24:25 PM

Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on October 24, 2013, 12:51:18 PM

Um the plural usage is right there in your quote.

Quote

and bitcoins (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

Do you also say I won five hundred dollar or man prices in the UK were expensive that [...] was 10 pound.

It is units of currency thus it is plural. The only time the units of currency is singular is when it is one unit.

That will be one dollar.
That will be one bitcoin.

That will be two dollars
That will be two bitcoins.

I have a half dollar. I have .5 dollars.

But that's still one unit. A half is a unit. I have two half dollars. That makes one whole dollar. Simple.

Topic: the plural & capitalization of bitcoin? (Read 7621 times)