RE: Gutter language

Hakon Lie wrote:

>David Perrell writes:
>
>> Gutter:
>> 
>> The inside margin of the pages in a bound book.
>> 
>>         Preparing Art for Printing
>>         Bernard Stone and Arthur Eckstein
>>         Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
>>         (c) 1965 Litton Educational Publishing, Inc.
>
>
>Gutter: (1) the gutter margin (2) the space between columns of type,
>as in table, an index, two-column text format etc.
>
>Glossary of Typesetting Terms 
>University of Chicago Press

I noted another recent source that espouses (2). That doesn't alter my argument for the logical interpretation.

The argument was presented elsewhere that (2) above had become common usage. Definitions in two collegiate dictionaries (below) indicate that the common definition relevant to publishing has remained constant for many years, and does not include (2).

Gutter: Printing. The white space formed by the inner margins of two facing pages, as of a book.

   The American Heritage Dictionary 
   of the English Language, Third Edition
   copyright 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Gutter: a white space formed by the adjoining inside margins of two facing pages (as of a book)

   Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
   copyright 1979 by G. & C. Merriam Co.

A few years ago I attended a seminar where the speaker described Bezier curves as being named after the Bezier arch in France. When I politely suggested otherwise, he insisted I was mistaken as he had found this description in a published glossary of computer graphics terms. As far as I know he continues to misinform.

If it becomes common knowledge that Bezier curves are named after the Bezier Arch, does that constitute evolution of the language?

Do radio operators really say "over and out?"

If the publishing industry uses "gutter" to describe the bound space between pages, what purpose is served by redefining the word for the WWW, besides confusion?

David Perrell

Received on Thursday, 4 July 1996 20:31:46 UTC