reoccuring vs recurring

soccerdad · 2005-11-11, 09:50 PM

Both show up on Webster online. I say reoccuring to support our friends from far lands. (I guess that is us in the States from Sub's perspective!) Anyway, I live in North Carolina so anything close is good enough.

jrockintuitive · 2005-11-11, 10:23 PM

reoccur is a word. Reoccur suggests a first or single repetition. Therefore reoccurring is not a word. But, hey, I'm happy either way

capone · 2005-11-11, 10:32 PM

jrockintuitive Wrote:reoccuring is not a word
recurring is a word - my vote

That sounds like The Man talking...The Man preachin' The System to the people. Don't listen, peoples.....CAN...YOU...DIG...IT....

Sry...I got the late friday blues... Wink

stefan · 2005-11-11, 10:41 PM

jrockintuitive Wrote:reoccur is a word. Reoccur suggests a first or single repetition. Therefore reoccurring is not a word. But, hey, I'm happy either way

I don't quite get the logic in "therefore" here. And I agree with capone. Late Friday night. What do I know? =)

bgowland · 2005-11-12, 01:17 AM

jrockintuitive Wrote:Therefore reoccurring is not a word.

Thanks for letting me know.

Would you be so good as to write to the compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary and tell them that? My copy obviously has an error.

jrockintuitive · 2005-11-12, 02:10 PM

No need to be insulting. I have to admit, after reading that the oxford dictionary has the word reoccuring in it, I assumed I was wrong and was ready to write an apology. However, I could not reconsile my knowledge of the english language with the word reoccurring. So I did a little research... most sources disagree with oxford. Reoccur is not synanomous with recur. Most sources do not recongnize reoccur as a word.

Below are my thoughts on this topic.

Progressive forms indicate ongoing action. Ing at the end of the verb = progressive form.

Reoccur suggests a first or single repetition- not an ongiong action.

It would be highly irregular to use the word reoccur in a sentence. Using reoccur in its progressive form; well, that would be akward and confusing.

bgowland · 2005-11-12, 06:17 PM

jrockintuitive Wrote:No need to be insulting.

Insult not intended - I was being cheeky (should have put a smiley in there). Apology offered if offense taken.

Quote:... most sources disagree with oxford.

I have the Oxford Reference (1996), Collins English (1987) and Chambers (1993) dictionaries. These are probably the three most popular (or most sold) in the UK. The Chambers doesn't have reoccur listed but the other two do. The fact that the Chambers doesn't have an entry doesn't mean they don't recognise it as a word, however. They have footnote panels headed 'Some words with the prefix re-'. Maybe they don't recognise it but that is not clear simply as a result of its omission. The fact that the other two do have an entry for it is enough for me.

Quote:It would be highly irregular to use the word reoccur in a sentence.

You just did. Smile

(duck for cover). But seriously, I would agree that in most contexts I would probably use 'happen again' in a spoken sentence instead. This does not mean, however, that I would preclude 'reoccur' from my vocabulary.

Oh well. I expect it is unlikely that our respective opinions will change. Smile

Cheers,
Brian