Constructors (starstruck noob from C++)

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Friday, January 21, 2011 12:10:26 Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:54:53 -0500, spir <denis.spir at gmail.com> wrote:
> > (*)
> > Or do people really speak like:
> > << Would you please make a duplicate of the guest list? >>
> > in the US?
> 
> They might, it doesn't sound that odd to me, though copy sounds more
> common.

I'd find that a bit odd, personally. It's perfectly understandable but a bit odd. 
I think that part of the problem though is that you're talking about a document, 
and you don't typically talk about duplicating documents.

Actually, if you want to get really technical, I think that duplicate is most 
typically used when talking about someone doing the same thing as someone else 
rather than taking the original and copying it. So, instead of taking the guest 
list and copying it, if you're duplicating it, then that often would imply that 
you're recreating it yourself rather than copying the one that exists - though, 
it is a bit odd to talk that way about a document. More typically, you'd talk 
about a technological device or whatnot. It's like how you'd say that you 
duplicated effort, but you'd never say that you copied effort.

That's not to say that the use of either copy or duplicate is entirely 
consistent however. Language is a rather maleable thing, and common usage has a 
large effect, regardless of what is technically correct based on the definitions 
of the words.

- Jonathan M Davis