Did we finally lose the grammar war?

by Markus Brinsa

 

Apparently, we lost the grammar war and call on-premises mistakenly "on-premise". This isn't good because premise and premises are different words and mean other things.

In today's world of texting, spell check, and informal communication, grammar rules have flown out the window, but that does not mean there is not a right way and a wrong way to use words and phrases.

The word on-premises, for instance. Many people mistakenly remove the "S" from the end and say "on-premise", but this, grammatically speaking, is incorrect. Premise and Premises are two different words, meaning very different things.

Premise: To base a theory, argument, etc., on an idea, thought, or belief.
Premises: A tract of land with the building thereon, or a building or a part of a building.

If you want to say that you like your software running in your building or on your servers, you want the software on-premises.

Now some will argue that premise is a fine substitute for premises and that the English language is evolving, just look at the word cloud. However, the two words mean two different things, and using premise as a replacement is not grammatically correct; it is technical slang and an abbreviation.
Be aware and conscious of this word and many others as you speak to people unfamiliar with tech jargon.

 

 

 

2015-11-17 MB