Brackets vs. parentheses
I'm trying to review some Spanish translations and find what would seem to be some inconsistencies in the original English version. I assume that the original variant is Amerian English, where "brackets" means the square punctuation marks, [ ] (which in British English would be "square brackets") while "parentheses" are the round ones, ( ).
Now, when it comes to the explanation in Format / Style / Accidentals / Padding inside paretheses, it says "Bracketed accidentals have a margin between the accidental and the brackets".
Shouldn't it be "Bracketed accidentals have a margin between the accidental and the partentheses"? Or, more general, since this style feature allows both, "Bracketed accidentals have a margin between the accidental and the parentheses or brackets"?
And, probably, the parameter should be "Padding inside paretheses and brackets" or "Padding around bracketed accidentals" since, as a verb, "bracketed" is more general.
This would be more clear and would help in the Spanish translation, since parenthesis = paréntesis and brackets = corchetes
Comments
brackets: [] (AKA square brackets)
braces: {} (AKA curly braces)
paren(these)s: ()
In reply to brackets: [] (AKA square… by Jojo-Schmitz
The summary Jojo gives is completely accurate according to conventional US English use. And yet, the word "bracket" as a general catch-all for all of these is common as well, and from what I gather, especially so in the UK (where maybe the distinctions made in the US are not as common).
In reply to The summary Jojo gives is… by Marc Sabatella
OK, I know that, and I had already mentioned it in my original post, but I think that for the sake of clarity and to prevent ambiguity, one and only one meaning should be chosen for each name, specifically the most canonical one (within each locale). Many people whose second tongue is English prefer to use the English locale because most manuals and forums are in English. Those people may find it confusing that there is a parameter called "Padding inside paretheses" whose popup explanation doesn't mention parentheses at all.
If the parameter were called "Padding around bracketed accidentals" it would be so much clearer, since as a verb its meaning is not restrictive.
In reply to brackets: [] (AKA square… by Jojo-Schmitz
Ingenious pun, Jojo!
In reply to Ingenious pun! by fmiyara
Not meant as such though.
In German the generic term is "Klammer", plural "Klammern", and unadorned it means "runde Klammern", parentheses, else you need to add "eckige" (square) or "geschweifte" (curly). Or even "spitze" (angle).
Seem in English, at least the US variant, bracket is the generic term.
Another problem is the inconsistency between the names of the brace in a grand staff, which, when selected, opens an inspector page called "Bracket" instead of "Brace", as is called in the "Brackets" palette.
Probably this palette should be called "System" (and possibly include system dividers), or "Braces & Brackets". By the way, braces are by far much more frequent than brackets at the beginning of the staff since there is much more piano than ensemble music.