On 2016-08-18 07:44, Malcolm Wallace wrote:
On 18 Aug 2016, at 06:34, Bardur Arantsson wrote:
Not a native (British) English speaker, but I've consumed a *lot* of UK media over the last ~25-30 years and I can literally only recall having heard "bespoke" used *once* and that was in the term "bespoke suit" where you can sort-of guess its meaning from context. I believe this is also the only context in which it's actually really used in British English. (However, I'll let the native (British) English speakers chime in on that.)
"Bespoke" is a reasonably common British English word, used in all of the following phrases:
bespoke software bespoke solution bespoke furniture bespoke kitchen bespoke tailoring
The meaning is "specially and individually made for this client". The opposite of standard, off-the-shelf, pre-packaged. It implies the outcome was not automatable, even if the individual pieces being assembled were machine-cut.
Thanks, Mildly interestingly, both the online M-W and the online OED list only the clothing by example. (Though the definitions don't *preclude* any other type of goods.)
"In the U.S., bespoke software is often called custom or custom-designed software." http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/bespoke
AFAIUI "custom", alas, doesn't really work in this context. :( Anyway, regardless of all that: "bespoke" is still a needlessly obscure word, IMO. Ergonomics matter in programming languages. Regards,