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Big Data

English translation: Do not use any capitals or quote marks.

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:big data
Selected answer:Do not use any capitals or quote marks.
Entered by: Allison Wright (X)

14:10 Aug 5, 2013
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - IT (Information Technology) / Punctuation
English term or phrase: Big Data
My searches in English seem to reveal that we are currently writing this term with initial capitals, despite what Wikipedia has to say on the matter "big data": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data.

I would appreciate thoughts on the matter from other English speakers in the habit of using this term.
Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 17:21
Do not use any capitals or quote marks
Explanation:
For topics like this, I like Information Week, a trade magazine here in the USA.

Look at the link and some of the stories there. The only time it is capitalized is either in a title or at the beginning of a sentence. And quote marks NEVER appear.
Selected response from:

jccantrell
United States
Local time: 09:21
Grading comment
Thank you, JCC. this is precisely the kind of usage validation I was looking for.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +2Do not use any capitals or quote marks
jccantrell
3 +2Captalize it
DLyons


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
big data
Captalize it


Explanation:
It needs to be marked in some way. Invverted commas are an alternative.

DLyons
Ireland
Local time: 17:21
Does not meet criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  David Moore (X): 'Inverted commas' maybe; capitalise - NO, NO, NO!!!// I still see it as wrong, however common it may be. As to the opening capital B, this phrase would most often open a sentence, so that would not be wrong. But 'acomodation' is also common, though wrong.
18 mins
  -> I see where you're coming from David. But "Big Data" is very common and, to me, far preferable to "Big data".
agree  JaneD: I'd capitalise it to make it clear that it's an expression, particularly if it only occurs a couple of times in an otherwise long text.
1 hr
  -> Thanks Jane.
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: with Jane
1 hr
  -> Thanks gallagy2.
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44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
big data
Do not use any capitals or quote marks


Explanation:
For topics like this, I like Information Week, a trade magazine here in the USA.

Look at the link and some of the stories there. The only time it is capitalized is either in a title or at the beginning of a sentence. And quote marks NEVER appear.


    Reference: http://www.informationweek.com/big-data
jccantrell
United States
Local time: 09:21
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
Thank you, JCC. this is precisely the kind of usage validation I was looking for.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  David Moore (X): Fair comment
15 mins
neutral  DLyons: Depends on the audience. Information Week readers will have already been bombarded by it.
39 mins
agree  dhsanjeev
1 day 13 hrs
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