# When did 'Quadrilogy' become the official term for 4 works ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385 "2008-03-14T19:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/1 "2008-03-14T19:04:01Z")
I just saw this word on the box set for Die Hard. I had never seen this term before. Maybe I was not so observant. I always liked the way Douglas Adams described his further works in HGTTG. “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish” is described as the fourth book of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/2 "2008-03-14T19:11:56Z")
This generated some discussion back when the _Alien_ box set came out, [too](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=289729). ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/3 "2008-03-14T19:18:30Z")
It happened around the time of the Alien box. It makes my skin crawl. Most people I talked to assume they use Quadrilogy because movie folks are either too stupid to know that Quadrilogy isn’t a word, or think that the public is too stupid to understand what a tetrology is. I work with movie folks for a living, so my guess is probably both. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/4 "2008-03-14T19:47:15Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] It happened around the time of the Alien box. It makes my skin crawl. Most people I talked to assume they use Quadrilogy because movie folks are either too stupid to know that Quadrilogy isn’t a word, or think that the public is too stupid to understand what a tetrology is. I work with movie folks for a living, so my guess is probably both. [/QUOTE] [Nitpick]It’s “tetralogy”[/nitpick], but yeah, what you said. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/5 "2008-03-14T21:24:02Z")
NAF1138, how do you think those other several hundred thousand new words in the English language came into existence? And how many tens of thousands of them were disapproved of by people like you? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/6 "2008-03-14T21:45:31Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] NAF1138, how do you think those other several hundred thousand new words in the English language came into existence? And how many tens of thousands of them were disapproved of by people like you? [/QUOTE] I know I know, don’t fight the progress (and sorry for my piss poor spelling :o ) But frankly we already have a perfectly good word for a four part series, and it is actually a much cooler word. Quadrillogy is a bizzar portmanteau that is just cumbersome and feels condescending. The only reason not to use tetralogy is if they think the general public won’t understand it, or if they didn’t realize there is already a word. Like I said, it was probably a bit of both. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/7 "2008-03-15T02:11:49Z")
[QUOTE=NAF1138] It makes my skin crawl. Most people I talked to assume they use Quadrilogy because movie folks are either too stupid to know that Quadrilogy isn’t a word, or think that the public is too stupid to understand what a tetrology is. [/QUOTE] Pardon my ignorance but…what makes “quadrilogy” wrong and “tetralogy” correct? After all, we have quadruped, quadrangle, quadrilateral, quadriceps… ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/8 "2008-03-15T02:28:39Z")
[QUOTE=KGS] Pardon my ignorance but…what makes “quadrilogy” wrong and “tetralogy” correct? After all, we have quadruped, quadrangle, quadrilateral, quadriceps… [/QUOTE] My best inkling is that -logy is Greet and quad- is Latin. Tetra- on the other hand is Greek as well. So when you use quadrilogy you’re mixing a Latin prefix and a Greek root and it would be much preferred to stick to one when possible. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/9 "2008-03-15T02:37:01Z")
[QUOTE=Jragon] My best inkling is that -logy is Greet and quad- is Latin. Tetra- on the other hand is Greek as well. So when you use quadrilogy you’re mixing a Latin prefix and a Greek root and it would be much preferred to stick to one when possible. [/QUOTE] There’s also the fact that “tetralogy” has precedent, appearing in English as early as 1656[sup]1[/sup], whereas “quadrilogy” or any obscene variation of said travesty isn’t even in the damn dictionary. [sub]1. MW citing the OED.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/10 "2008-03-15T02:46:27Z")
[QUOTE=Jragon] My best inkling is that -logy is Greet and quad- is Latin. Tetra- on the other hand is Greek as well. So when you use quadrilogy you’re mixing a Latin prefix and a Greek root and it would be much preferred to stick to one when possible. [/QUOTE] Preferred by whom? For what reasons? This is an old and ludicrous notion. It was once heard as a reason for not accepting the coinage television. Look at the success “they” had on that one. Only the most benighted pedants, totally unacquainted with the English language, can put forth this statement with a straight face. Everybody else in the English-speaking world has laughed them out of sight decades ago. I’m assuming you are putting this forth as a reason why someone might not accept the word rather than advocating it yourself, of course. Look, either the word will become commonly used and therefore accepted and in a few years no one will give it a second glance, or it will fail as a coinage and yield to the existing word. English words work both ways, with thousands of examples of each. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to use it. But like thousands of other words coined for advertising or marketing, it served a purpose in making a product look unique and attractive. That’s good use of English, not bad, no matter what the pedants think. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/11 "2008-03-15T02:51:20Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Preferred by whom? For what reasons? This is an old and ludicrous notion. It was once heard as a reason for not accepting the coinage television. Look at the success “they” had on that one. Only the most benighted pedants, totally unacquainted with the English language, can put forth this statement with a straight face. Everybody else in the English-speaking world has laughed them out of sight decades ago. I’m assuming you are putting this forth as a reason why someone might not accept the word rather than advocating it yourself, of course. Look, either the word will become commonly used and therefore accepted and in a few years no one will give it a second glance, or it will fail as a coinage and yield to the existing word. English words work both ways, with thousands of examples of each. If you don’t like it, you don’t need to use it. But like thousands of other words coined for advertising or marketing, it served a purpose in making a product look unique and attractive. That’s good use of English, not bad, no matter what the pedants think. [/QUOTE] Yes, I was merely describing the reason many may not accept it (personally I feel tetralogy and quadrilogy are equally clunky though, perhaps chaturlogy? :p) Besides, I don’t have time to mull over root-pre/suffix mismatches when I’m still getting over “imagineering” (okay I kinda like that one) and (god help us) “guesstimate.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/12 "2008-03-15T02:53:58Z")
Funny, I always thought four books made a quartet, just like four singers or four instrumentalists. (Except in gospel music, where “quartet” is a _genre_, usually involving 5 or 6 singers.) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/13 "2008-03-15T03:39:49Z")
“Tetra-” does not sound like “four” whereas “Quad-” does. Seems simple to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/14 "2008-03-15T04:01:23Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] “Tetra-” does not sound like “four” whereas “Quad-” does. Seems simple to me. [/QUOTE] Really? I swear I used “tetrameter” when analyzing poetry just the other day. Oh and how about those tetrahedrons in that downtown construction project? Needless douchebaggery aside (sorry, just making a point, came out more rude than I meant it), “tetra” isn’t exactly out there. I don’t care if we end up using tetralogy or quadrilogy in ten years from now, but I think your argument is a little off tetra is definately in the modern lexicon to at least some extent. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/15 "2008-03-15T05:32:13Z")
New words that were never words before suck. But they keep coming, irregardless. Tris ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/16 "2008-03-15T06:55:13Z")
[QUOTE=Jragon] Oh and how about those tetrahedrons in that downtown construction project? [/QUOTE] Who on earth uses tetrahedrons in construction? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/17 "2008-03-15T07:23:15Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] Who on earth uses tetrahedrons in construction? [/QUOTE] The Biosphere uses tetrahedrons in its structure. > **[Biosphere 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2)** > > University of Arizona Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare) structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium. It remains the largest closed ecological system ever created. Constructed between 1987 an It wa... Also I learned quite a lognt ime ago that a lot of bridges make use of them for stability. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-quadrilogy-become-the-official-term-for-4-works/441385/18 "2008-03-15T07:46:03Z")
If four is now a quadrilogy, then can we make two a biology?