Hello, all

How do you perceive, and therefore pronounce, the phrase
`read receipt'? Is its first word a bare infinitive or
a past participle? I cannot help treating it as the lat-
ter, because otherwise `read' may be minsunderstood as
denoting a prolonged process rather than an event, which
either has occured or has not. In other words, it is a
`has-been-read receipt'.

What other similar examples can you think of? If, say,
one wishes to be notified when a house has been built,
shall he demand a built notification or a build notifi-
cation?

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I wrote:

> If, say, one wishes to be notified when a house has
> been built, shall he demand a built notification or a
> build notification?

Make it `one' in both instances.

On Fri, 30 Sep 2022 16:19:41 +0300, Anton Shepelev
<anton.txt@g{oogle}mail.com> wrote:

> How do you perceive, and therefore pronounce, the phrase
> `read receipt'? Is its first word a bare infinitive or
> a past participle?
I don't think I've ever consciously vocalized it or heard it
pronounced but I suppose if it did it would have to be /red/ receipt.
"'reed' receipt" just sounds weird (something having to do with
woodwinds maybe?)

I imagine there will be nitpickers who object that "red receipt" has
something to do with receipts that are red of course.
--
Bob
The people your parents warned you about

Opinicus to Anton Shepelev:

> > How do you perceive, and therefore pronounce, the
> > phrase `read receipt'? Is its first word a bare
> > infinitive or a past participle?
>
> I don't think I've ever consciously vocalized it or
> heard it pronounced but I suppose if it did it would
> have to be /red/ receipt. "'reed' receipt" just
> sounds weird (something having to do with woodwinds
> maybe?)

I deliberately asked this question terms of grammar
rather than pronunciation, which derives from, and is
secondary to, grammar.

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> How do you perceive, and therefore pronounce, the
> phrase `read receipt'? Is its first word a bare
> infinitive or a past participle?

I usually pronounce it as "reed" (that is, infinitive 'to read')
receipt, and use the post-hoc justification that is a receipt sent when
reading. Such receipts are usually sent upon /opening/ a message, rather
than as a confirmation after finishing it.

However, the past participle interpretation is probably a more proper
interpretation; most people want confirmation the message has been read,
not merely opened. We don't call them "open receipts" after all.

I bid you welcome, Samuel. Always glad to see new
competent members of Usenet.

Samuel Christie to Anton Shepelev:

> > How do you perceive, and therefore pronounce, the
> > phrase `read receipt'? Is its first word a bare
> > infinitive or a past participle?
>
> I usually pronounce it as "reed" (that is, infini-
> tive 'to read') receipt, and use the post-hoc justi-
> fication that is a receipt sent when reading. Such
> receipts are usually sent upon /opening/ a message,
> rather than as a confirmation after finishing it.

And as far as I know, normal mail clients are not
aware of such receipts at all. I see them as an in-
sulting and insecure alternative of writing:

Please, confirm reception of my request that may be
sure it was not lost on way.

> However, the past participle interpretation is prob-
> ably a more proper interpretation; most people want
> confirmation the message has been read, not merely
> opened. We don't call them "open receipts" after
> all.

I also think of it as a short form of a compound ad-
jective:
message-read receipt
message-delivered receipt
package-shipped notification

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> I bid you welcome, Samuel. Always glad to see new
> competent members of Usenet.

Thanks! I'm not sure what the standard is for competence, but it's true
I'm not a bot or spammer.

> And as far as I know, normal mail clients are not
> aware of such receipts at all.

Indeed; I don't usually like them for email, and turn them off when I
can. Sorry, but I want my email client to only send messages when /I/ tell
it to.

That said, in non-email contexts I'm fairly accustomed to instant
messaging services that indicate who has read which messages, and think
it's pretty useful.

I think the difference is that email is personal and distant (very
asynchronous) so automated read receipts feel intrusive and impatient.
Even more so for "tracking images" in html emails (though I will admit
appreciating the information for a small club mailing list I operated).
Conversely, other forms of communication are nearly synchronous (and
used as if they were maybe more than they should be) and are often
shared or even public rooms.

Samuel Christie to Anton Shepelev:

> > I bid you welcome, Samuel. Always glad to see new
> > competent members of Usenet.
>
> Thanks! I'm not sure what the standard is for compe-
> tence, but it's true I'm not a bot or spammer.

Well, you do not use Google Gropus[1], use a Emacs
(where my greatest feat was to play Colossal Cave adven-
ture and then manage to exit), quote in the correct in-
terleaved style, and wrapp your text to a sensible line
length.

> That said, in non-email contexts I'm fairly accustomed
> to instant messaging services that indicate who has
> read which messages, and think it's pretty useful.

They do not track your eye movemenets, nor are supposed
to read your mind.

> I think the difference is that email is personal and
> distant (very asynchronous) so automated read receipts
> feel intrusive and impatient. Even more so for
> "tracking images" in html emails (though I will admit
> appreciating the information for a small club mailing
> list I operated). Conversely, other forms of communi-
> cation are nearly synchronous (and used as if they
> were maybe more than they should be) and are often
> shared or even public rooms.

Yes, and I prefer e-mail for its asynchroneity and unob-
trusiveness: nothing begs for your attention by beeping
or vibrating, or keeps you staring at the chat screen in
wait of an answer. With e-mail, one can write a coher-
ent, self-contained message with several paragraphs,
saving lots time and nerves.
____________________
1. http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/

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