Family Historian User Group

This is just a tiny request which relates to the Names & Titles feature (e.g., use of a.k.a.). Could you change the wording from the incorrect American usage of 'alternate' to 'alternative' please? The name Anne is an alternative to Ann. It is not an alternate.

Many thanks for reading

Why is it wrong just because it's American usage?

I’m not sure that the word use is an “American” thing, rather it is how the words are normally used.

alternate’ as a verb, to go back and forth from one state to another. A ‘substitute’. An action.

‘alternative’ is a noun, to have an ‘option’. Could be an adjective, to describe something.

Yes, “ The name Anne is an alternative to Ann” but she can “alternate between using Anne and Ann”!

The OED has 'alternate' as an alternative (or alternate) to 'alternative'. Most commonly used in the States, yes, but acceptable English English.

The Chicago Manual of Style, which is the Bible in my world, is silent on alternate/alternative, but Dreyer’s English (the Book of Common Prayer as it were) tells us that, “strictly speaking, an alternate is a thing that replaces a thing, and alternatives — which travel in packs, or at least pairs — are options, any one of which might be viable. That is, if owing to an accident I’m forced off the road in Connecticut and must find my way to Boston via Pawtucket, I’m mandated to travel an alternate route, but on another day, should I opt to make my way to Boston on local streets rather than highways, I am simply choosing an alternative route.”

Think alternate identity: Bruce Wayne & Batman, Percy Blakeney & the Scarlet Pimpernel.

In the FH7 context, "alternative" may be the better choice, especially if one is dealing with immigrant generations with multiple name variants.

Merriam Webster has (as one of a number of meanings for) alternate: constituting an alternative.

I think my fundamental question is: why does a word have to be changed because the way it's used is unfamiliar to some users (we can't know how many) based on geography?

It doesn't need to be changed, esp in this instance where the meaning is clear on both sides of the ocean.

Robert Jacobs wrote: ↑

29 Jan 2023 19:02

It doesn't need to be changed, esp in this instance where the meaning is clear on both sides of the ocean.

Exactly correct!

Closed for lack of support.