# The confusing usage of the word 'subscription'.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 23, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953 "2004-03-23T18:46:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953/1 "2004-03-23T18:46:55Z")

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I know, I know, everyone’s decently smart here, but in the sake of scan reading, could we consider changing the duality of the word ‘subscription’ on the SDMB?

example:

> [@](#):
>
> Your subscription for this thread has been removed.

> [@](#):
>
> Your guest membership on the Straight Dope Message Board expires on April 21, 2004. To become a subscriber and avoid seeing this screen again, click here. To continue without subscribing, click here.

One advantage of English is that you have 40,000+ other words to choose from 🙂

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**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953/2 "2004-03-23T19:03:33Z")

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I, too, subscribe to that theory. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953/3 "2004-03-23T19:44:20Z")

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Just a postscript …

I had the same thought - it’s confusing!

Trouble is, even with a thesaurus I can’t come up with a better alternative. 😕

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953/4 "2004-03-24T23:21:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Trouble is, even with a thesaurus I can’t come up with a better alternative.

Maybe we could call it “Shirley”.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953/5 "2004-03-24T23:35:09Z")

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> [@alterego](#):
>
> One advantage of English is that you have 40,000+ other words to choose from 🙂

I think you’d have to agree though, that they might not _all_ be suitable as alternatives to the word ‘subscription’.

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**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-confusing-usage-of-the-word-subscription/235953/6 "2004-03-25T23:08:16Z")

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Wouldn’t “e-mail notification of this thread” or “track this thread” work?