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Subject:-ic vs. -ical From:geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA Date:Fri, 27 Jun 1997 12:19:00 -0500
There's no good rule for whether to end words with -ic or
-ical... English just isn't that logical. (<--See?) I was
toying with the notion that words that already end in "ic"
often become "ical" words (e.g., logic becomes logical),
but there are far too many exceptions for that rule to be
useful. There's another rule of thumb that "ical" forms are
being replaced slowly by the "ic" form, but that's also
incorrect far too often for my comfort. For example, we
talk of economic theory, but an economical solution to a
problem (an economic solution would be one that involves
the science of economics, not one that saves money). In the
end, the only good rule I can give you is to check with
your dictionary.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
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