Poll: Disk or Disc?

[Vanguard_Ex]

All I can think about now is how odd the word 'disc' looks...

 

[Judgement101]

All I can think about now is how odd the word 'disc' looks...

That is what my friends argument mainly was. "It looks too weird to be a word"

 

[pneuma08]

They're interchangeable, similar to "grey" and "gray". "Disc" is closer to the Latin roots but no one really cares. Myself, I don't think about it and just pick one subconsciously - you can see right now I'm preferring the "k", but I've caught myself spelling it the other way too.

In any event I don't even think there's even any degradation of meaning going on. "Dis(c/k)" means a flat circular object, and CDs, DVDs (and their broader category of optical disks), even HDDs (hard disk drives, which are actually composed of many disks) are all circular in shape. Floppys (both 3.5 and 5.25) were too, although they had a rectangular casing which obscures this fact. Other storage media aren't called disks - tape drives, usb flash drives, SD cards, solid state drives.

 

[Judgement101]

They're interchangeable, similar to "grey" and "gray". "Disc" is closer to the Latin roots but no one really cares. Myself, I don't think about it and just pick one subconsciously - you can see right now I'm preferring the "k", but I've caught myself spelling it the other way too.

In any event I don't even think there's even any degradation of meaning going on. "Dis(c/k)" means a flat circular object, and CDs, DVDs (and their broader category of optical disks), even HDDs (hard disk drives, which are actually composed of many disks) are all circular in shape. Floppys (both 3.5 and 5.25) were too, although they had a rectangular casing which obscures this fact. Other storage media aren't called disks - tape drives, usb flash drives, SD cards, solid state drives.

Like color and colour?

 

[pneuma08]

Like color and colour?

Kind of but not really because "colour" is pretty unheard of outside of the Queen's English.

 

[child of lileth]

Disc, because that's how a business I order from constantly always writes it in the notifications they send to me.

 

[Judgement101]

After showing this to my friend he agreed with me.

 

[Treblaine]

Ok, simple way to remember that vinyl disc is spelt with a "C":

That music format is played at a Disco, not a Disko.

 

[Dana22]

Disc and disk are the two alternative spellings of the descriptive word for things of a generally thin and circular geometry. These variations are due to the way in which the words originated. The discussion here somewhat focuses on how the word applies to data-storage media. See Disc (disambiguation) for other meanings.

The earlier word is disk, which came into the English language in the middle of the 17th century, and (probably following pre-existing words such as risk) it was spelled with a k. The spelling disc was introduced in the 18th century, following an increasing tendency to base the spelling of words on their roots: in this case the Latin word discus and the Greek word δισκος (note that kappa in Greek is usually transliterated by c rather than k). In the 19th century, disc became the conventional spelling for audio recordings made on a flat plate, such as the gramophone record; this usage gave rise to the modern term disc jockey.[1] Early BBC technicians differentiated between disks (in-house transcription records) and discs (the colloquial term for commercial gramophone records, or what the BBC dubbed CGRs).[2]

By the 20th century, the c-spelling was more popular in British English, while the k-spelling was preferred in American English. In the 1950s, when the American company IBM pioneered the first hard disk drive storage devices, the k-spelling was used. Consequently, in computer jargon today it is common for the k-spelling to refer mainly to magnetic storage devices (particularly in British English, where the term disk is sometimes regarded as a contraction of diskette, a much later word and actually a diminutive of disk).

Some latter-day storage device manufacturers prefer the c-spelling. In 1979 the Dutch company Philips, along with Sony, developed the compact disc medium; here, the c-spelling was chosen. The c-spelling is now used consistently for optical media such as the compact disc and similar technologies.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_of_disc

 

[Nibsy]

I use both pretty much equally, although I do wonder about the difference between the two on occasion, it never really makes all that much difference and nobody really seems to give two shits either way. xD
But if I had to choose, I'd probably say Disk, seems more... Proper.

 

[Treblaine]

How in the hell can 32 people not know the correct answer??

Because there IS NO SINGLE correct answer.

BOTH are correct depending on what type of disc/disk you are talking about. Generally it is Disc (discus throw, vinyl Disc, compact disc, DVD is a disc) but Disk has specialist applications usually for magnetic storage like Floppy Disk, Hard Disk drive, etc.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

Disc = soft disc (i.e. a CD or DVD)

Disk = hard disk (i.e. a hard disk)

 

[Private Custard]

How in the hell can 32 people not know the correct answer??

Because there IS NO SINGLE correct answer.

BOTH are correct depending on what type of disc/disk you are talking about. Generally it is Disc (discus throw, vinyl Disc, compact disc, DVD is a disc) but Disk has specialist applications usually for magnetic storage like Floppy Disk, Hard Disk drive, etc.

The OP asked about game discs though. There is a correct and an incorrect answer to his question.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I use Disk mostly, though I sometimes use Disc.

 

[Treblaine]

How in the hell can 32 people not know the correct answer??

Because there IS NO SINGLE correct answer.

BOTH are correct depending on what type of disc/disk you are talking about. Generally it is Disc (discus throw, vinyl Disc, compact disc, DVD is a disc) but Disk has specialist applications usually for magnetic storage like Floppy Disk, Hard Disk drive, etc.

The OP asked about game discs though. There is a correct and an incorrect answer to his question.

Hmm, I guess so. But the Poll is far more blunt, simply asking "Disc or Disk?" with no qualifier. Anyway, it's not clear even from the OP if a game disc was merely an example or a parameter of questioning. Seemed like an example.

 

[Tattaglia]

Bah, it's definitely disqué. You must say it in italics, no exceptions.

 

[Volafortis]

FLAT DOUGHNUT!!!

But really, I've always used "disc"

 

[Downfall89]

People use disk? I thought it was always disc.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

well in my dictionary it says disk