I've noticed lately that the act of sticking a microphone in front of something is now more likely to be spelled here as 'micing' - when in the past the more common version was 'miking'.

I'm not sure why it makes me cringe so much - and a quick search on Google on both versions of the spelling indicates nearly twice the count for 'miking' - so where is this change towards 'micing' coming from? It doesn't seem to be an Americanism - web sites both sides of the water use both.

I hate polls, but let's see if there is a trend.

Both verbs stick in my fingers, but I always refer to a "mic". More likely to avoid micing by writing "mic it up".

I also try to avoid using either to avoid the debate, my argument would be micing because its mic, the other argument is that micing would be pronounced mice-ing.
We can then debate that we shorten the common name Michael to Mike, and as such should shorten the word Microphone to Mike. Alternatively we can say, we're just shortening the name to the first 3 letters.

I've voted what I USE, but I wouldn't really like to say which I think is right and wrong.

My fat fingers prefer micing, otherwise I'm likely to type milking. Can't say I use -ing as often as "mic up" or mic'd though.

Indeed there is no k in microphone, does that mean it should be pronounced 'mick-ro-fone'?

Whilst not a regular noise-boy, I still talk about the kit quite regularly.
If typing, I usually use mic for the microphone and mike-up OR mic-up for the other - I very seldom write micing or miking, to be honest.
That doesn't mean I don't SAY miking, just that I tend not to WRITE it...

This is another one of those occasions where due to common usage a noun becomes a verb, despite the verb not really fitting the English language...

You've done this before Paul. I even got a letter from the OED.

Since neither word exists I suppose we could write it either way and be equally incorrect

I've been trying to think back to my junior school video based indoctrination (Geordie Racer anyone?) and you can come up with a phonetic argument for either, though as Rob pointed out a precedent already exists for shorting a "mic..." word to "mike".

Also, take a look at the word "mimic" which becomes "mimicking". To get the "king" sound you seem to definitely need a K - a C on it's own won't do...

I would say if it's spelt with a K, there's only one way to interpret it phonetically. If it's with a C, we could be talking about rodents.

Gareth.

Edit:
I thought this felt familiar...

I know I'm getting old, but it's scary when you remember, but I don't??? Hmm..... I'm not sure I can merge two topics when they include a poll, so for the moment, I will close that old one and link to here. Some of the more knowledgeable mods may know what happens if poll equipped topics get merged.

So forgiveness please - just shows how much such a little thing wrangles. I think ynot summed it up - we all use the same word when talking, but some are now just avoiding writing the word because of the spelling problem, which is a bit daft. It does look like this doesn't apply to the Next Generation - so maybe the colleges and unis use the 'micing' word in their paperwork and there isn't this hang up on it at all. I note all the people who are a bit awkward with it are the ones who perhaps started on the miking/mic as a standard spelling, and have become aware of the bi-spelling gradually.

Paul

I probably only remember because of the letter.

I just read the entire old thread, from the beginning. And I would like to apologise to the entire BR community publicly for having re-opened such a can of worms!

I always put the 'C' version but it can look like we are talking about Mice!? lol

I know it as the Mic and Micing or Mic - Up. And Post 2000 - Next Gen

Ditto.

Josh

Having checked the "Oxford Reference Online" I found that one meaning of the verb "to mike" is:

"idle away one's time: he thundered at anyone he thought was miking".

Rather appropriate for those crew members who seem to take forever positioning a 57 over the snare drum....

If I were a greengrocer's son, I'd write it thus: "mic'ing"; where the apostrophe represents the missing letters "rophon". (ie in full: "microphoning").

as I'm not the spawn of a grocer, I probably go with the school of thought that says "avoid the "ing" version in written form, though I do use it in speech.

I haven't voted in the poll as there isn't an appropriate tickbox, but for the sake of statistics and context, I am a pre-2000 not next generation.

actually now I look again, I'm confused - I did sound before 2000, and I do it occasionally now after 2000 - which category do I fall into, please?

Like many questions nowadays - put whichever you consider you are, not actually really are.

Oi, you've swapped around the choices! It's confusing...

Miking, then Micing
Mic, then Mike

Rather than Micing, Miking, Mic, Mike

I *meant* to vote Miking, and Mike, but because the way the poll was laid out, I voted Micing, and Mike. Oh, and not next-gen

The wording 'micing' just seems wrong to me.
I voted 'miking' although I would refer to such an item as a 'mic'. I would also say, let's 'mike it up'
You work it out?
Personally I think I say the word more than write it.

An interesting one Paul.

As said before I think we all say it the same - I use micing simply because I thought it followed on logically from mic. And mic has to be mic rather than mike otherwise too many people (I.e. more than 0) end up making very bad jokes since the latter is also my name!

Personally I find mic'in easier to read and understand but that's probably just a combination of my regional dialect and poor grammar!

I definitely can't see where a 'k' would come into the word as in full it's microphoning, not mikrophoning.