Curly Brackets or Braces
- The Web: Writing
This one came up during the tech edit and now during the copy edit on my last book: the use of "curly bracket" as compared to "curly braces" or "brace".
I have used the term "curly bracket" for decades, and have seen the term used in other programming contexts. Wikipedia, though not the definitive source of information on a topic, also seems to promote curly bracket over curly brace. In addition, Wikipedia and other sources also point out that the curly part of "curly braces" is redundant, because there are no other braces but curly ones.
So which is the proper term? When you see "curly bracket" do you itch to take editing pencil to "bracket", to replace with "brace"? Are you confused when you see the word "brace" used in a programming context? Or paired with the "curly"?
Comments
Compromise?
Curly bracket == brace. Normally used with detail as left brace or
right brace?
That's just from memory, without any references.
"The expression is normally in braces"
(Which makes me think of UK braces == US suspenders).
Toss a coin?
DaveP
When I hear brace, my first reaction is "brace of pheasant", for pair of pheasant. Not even sure where I picked that one up. Perhaps my near Canadian neighbors growing up.
Coin toss probably is about the best approach -- it really is six of one, half dozen of the other.
Purely personal view:
Braces are those curly things. There are no "square braces" or, for that matter, "angle braces." Brackets are the square ones. Unfortunately, the pointy things that decorate XML are also brackets, and so must be distinguished as "angle brackets." For additional clarity, the square things may be referred to as "square brackets," but the unmarked case defaults to square.
I suppose there could be "curly brackets," and that use doesn't particularly bother me since it's pretty clear what's intended, but in my deeply hidden (and politicially-correctly repressed) prescriptivist core, "curly brackets" should be replaced with "braces." After all, we have a perfectly good word for parentheses, and don't find it necessary to call them "curved brackets." (Or, at least, I don't.)
Your take pretty much agrees with the style guideline, except for the use curly as description.
However, your take on brackets and angle brackets fits my own usage patterns.
I usually just say "curlies", but when I'm addressing it by its full name I generally say "curly brace". If I just saw "brace" I wouldn't intuitively know what the person was talking about sans context.
Um, this could be a regional thing, but "curlies" has an...odd connotation where I grew up.
Hmm.. as an old-school typographer (I'm talking lead type and letterpress here), I always called them brackets. But I decided to consult the oldest authority I know, the age-old list of proofreader's marks. I found one online that seems to be the same diagram I first encountered, about 40 years ago. It calls them brackets.
It's funny, but with today's digital editing, I think the proofreader marks are long gone.
I remembered caret, for insertion, the twirly loop to delete.
I'd go with "curly brackets" -- I don't think I knew the term "brace" until very recently (vs. bob's example of parenthesis: most people encounter parentheses long before they encounter any other brackets!), but the "curly" works well with "angle" or "square." I think it's the most inclusive terminology.
I don't think I've used square brackets. I have used curly and angle.
Anyway, the O'Reilly style folks have let me keep curly brackets, though the O'Reilly style guide says curly braces.
To me, "curly bracket" or "brace" (or even "curly brace") are equally clear. In conversational use, I often say "squiggly brackets".
I've used squiggly brackets, too. I wonder if this is a Northwest thing?
I'd say that including the "curly" helps to avoid confusion. "Brace" by itself might not be easily understood by some people. You can figure out what it means given the context but users shouldn't have to think about these things.
After that, brace or bracket would be fine IMO. I'd prefer "curly bracket" myself.
I'd have problems with braces without curly myself. Not used to using brace in this context.
I too would be happy with any of "curly bracket", "curly brace" or "brace" though the middle one seems a bit redundant. People seem to understand when I refer to them as "worms", though.
Like the brace/suspenders problem there's a trans-Atlantic problem with "bracket" in that to an American it means, I think, pretty unambiguously the same as "square bracket" whereas in Britain "bracket" would typically be taken to mean round bracket, i.e., parenthesis; "parenthesis" is, of course, fully understood but is regarded as more formal. In Britain you'd need to say "square bracket" to be sure to avoid ambiguity.
Isn't it wonderful how we all speak the same language?
Worms. I plan on using that one from now on. Worms. I like it.
I say 'curly braces'. I think this is more or less because I'm a foreigner working in a North American country.
Hey, where is the login thingy?
Bud also mentioned about the registration/login.
I had taken out user registration because of spam registrations. I added back the login for now. I wish I could do the open registration, but I get slammed when I do.
I refer to the curly things as braces, the square ones as brackets, and the half-ish moon ones as parenthesis no matter the context.
I'm in the UK. I call this a bracket (
this a square bracket [
and this a squiggly or curly bracket {
Braces hold up your trousers or straighten your teeth.
I guess someone from the US could interpret every noun above differently, apart from "square" and "teeth"!
In Norway, we just call everything "parenthesis", prefixing it with a word to specify its form. [] are "clamp parenthesis", {} are "curly parenthesis", <> are "tick parenthesis" and () are just "parenthesis". Some like to refer to {} as "seagull wings" and to <> as "less than" and "larger than" as well.
He's a loathsome, offensive brute, yet I can't look away.
I think with {} we've discovered the Rosetta stone for language.
Curly *brackets* for me too, although curly *braces* sounds fine. And wow-- look how many thoughtful comments this topic generated... so there's the meta question: how to make a topic like, say, health care as compelling and rational as the brackets vs. braces vs. "just curlies" discussion ; )
No i am never comfortable with braces for me its always curly brackets which make more sense. Braces just sounds as if we are talking about teeth rather than brackets.