 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2008On a daily basis
I hear this misused daily. As an accountant, I may calculate interest on a daily basis, but I would probably do it once a year. On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: > I hear this misused daily. > > As an accountant, I may calculate interest on a daily basis, but I > would probably do it once a year. Which of the meanings of "on a daily basis" do you consider a misuse, the one that refers to the frequency of doing the calculation, or the one that specifies the interest compounding interval? -- John > On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: >> I hear this misused daily. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > the one that refers to the frequency of doing the calculation, or the > one that specifies the interest compounding interval? I don't know his objection, but I rarely meet an example of "on a [something] basis" which wouldn't be better English as simply "[something]". This looks like one of those exceptions, but perhaps it's now skunked, and needs to be replaced with something like "at a daily rate of X". I'm not an accountant, of course.  SignatureMike. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com >On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: >> I hear this misused daily. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >the one that refers to the frequency of doing the calculation, or the >one that specifies the interest compounding interval? That should be obvious. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk >>On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: >>> I hear this misused daily. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >That should be obvious. Either usage is questionable- as Mike Lyle pointed out, "daily" would do for one; the other is better expressed as "compounded daily" than "calculated daily". SignatureJohn >>>On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: >>>> I hear this misused daily. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >do for one; the other is better expressed as "compounded daily" than >"calculated daily". I would not understand "interest calculated on a daily basis" to mean that they calculated it each day. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk >>>>On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: >>>>> I hear this misused daily. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >I would not understand "interest calculated on a daily basis" to mean that >they calculated it each day. I wouldn't either. Assuming they meant using the formula P*(1+i/365.25)^365.25, though, it would be unusual to express that as "interest calculated on a daily basis". It would usually be expressed "compounded daily", which is why it sounds like a misuse to me. However, IANAA, so TIWAGOS. SignatureJohn >>>> On Feb 25, 9:22 am, lyricaljohn...@gmail.com wrote: >>>>> I hear this misused daily. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > I would not understand "interest calculated on a daily basis" to mean that > they calculated it each day. Maybe not, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find it used to mean that by the sort of person who habitually used "on a daily basis" to mean "daily". Why would such a person make an exception to their normal speech patterns when talking about compound interest? Signatureathel > I hear this misused daily. > > As an accountant, I may calculate interest on a daily basis, but I > would probably do it once a year. The general use of "on an x basis" to mean "every x" or "once an x" is a bugbear of mine. I don't read aue "on a daily basis", I do it daily. But you try getting anyone who writes businessese to say that. >> I hear this misused daily. >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >I don't read aue "on a daily basis", I do it daily. But you try getting >anyone who writes businessese to say that. Its popularity seems to be a fairly recent development. Gowers, writing in the 1940s, has a section on the misuse of "basis", but is mild in his treatment of this usage; "You may well allow it to stand if you have written of staff paid on a weekly basis or of a house let on a monthly basis, but do not despise 'by the week' or 'by the month' as somewhat less pompos alternatives". He follows this with a list of examples "which would not escape so easily". My favorite among his finds is "Prices are basis prices per ton for the representative-basis-pricing specification and size and quantity". SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the From: address is not read. To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com" >>> I hear this misused daily. >>> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > as somewhat less pompos alternatives". He follows this with a list of > examples "which would not escape so easily". And Gowers is attacking a lesser sin. His examples are the ones our accountant would accept as a technical term: where the unit of measurement is that period of time, so the payments are based on the week or the month - so rent is not just payable every week, but also for one week at a time. Today's users of the term don't even mean that much. I have a rather nice copy of the Complete Plain Words, ex libris HMG, and do wonder that they can afford to have let it go. > My favorite among his finds is "Prices are basis prices per ton for > the representative-basis-pricing specification and size and quantity". News reports often have things rising and falling by basis points. I can never remember what kinds of things have basis points, but whatever they are they should have at least three of them; otherwise they'd end up going basis over apex. SignatureRegards John for mail: my initials plus a u e at tpg dot com dot au > [ ... ] > My favorite ... Franke criticized you today in another in another thread for what he seemed to be interpreting as an anti-American remark, to which I reacted by thinking that surely you were American. Then I remembered your co.uk address, and wondered if maybe I was mistaken. However, your spelling suggests I was not. Signatureathel >> [ ... ] > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >your co.uk address, and wondered if maybe I was mistaken. However, your >spelling suggests I was not. I prefer the OED (not "American") spellings in such words. SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the From: address is not read. To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com" > >> [ ... ] > > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > I prefer the OED (not "American") spellings in such words. Looking at the OED from here, the spelling is not the one you used. SignatureLinz Wet Yorks via Cambridge, York, London and Watford My accent may vary >> >> [ ... ] >> > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Looking at the OED from here, the spelling is not the one you used. They shouldn't change these things without telling me. I suppose I'll have to start calling it a personal eccentricity (I'm certainly not going to change it). SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the From: address is not read. To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com" |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.