Sunday, February 26, 2006

Statalist submitters beware.....

Inside I know I'm just posting this for my own amusement. Below is an excerpt of a conversation thread taken from Statalist.

Jian Zhang submits a question:

Dear STATA users,
I have a question about making a table using STATA.
I couldn't figure out how to make it.
Hope that you could help me.
...then follows his question........

Here's the reply that he receives:

I can't speak for STATA. The program I know is called Stata [emphasis added by me]. Please read the StatalistFAQ before posting to be familiar with the advice given. Specific answers below.

Nick

These must be the FAQs he's referring to:

What is the correct way to pronounce ‘Stata’?

Stata is an invented word. Some pronounce it with a long a as in day (Stay-ta); some pronounce it with a short a as in flat (Sta-ta); and some pronounce it with a long a as in ah (Stah-ta). The correct English pronunciation must remain a mystery, except that personnel of StataCorp use the first of these. Some other languages have stricter rules on pronunciation that will determine this issue for speakers of those languages.

What is the correct way to write ‘Stata’?

Stata is an invented word, not an acronym, and should not appear with all letters capitalized: please write ‘Stata’, not ‘STATA’.

Fred's FAQ:

Are you kidding me?

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