Correct - ship or shipping date

Question

If I wrote the following sentence which is correct; can you update me regarding the shipping date, or regarding the ship date?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]If I wrote the following sentence which is correct; can you update me regarding the shipping date, or regarding the ship date?[/nq]
"Shipping date" is probably better; "ship date" sounds like trade jargon.

Odysseus

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]If I wrote the following sentence which is correct; can you update me regarding the shipping date, or regarding the ship date?[/nq]
It is "the shipping date," the date of shipping, not of "ship", whatever that might mean.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]If I wrote the following sentence which is correct; can you update me regarding the shipping date, or regarding the ship date?[/nq]
[nq:1]It is "the shipping date," the date of shipping, not of "ship", whatever that might mean.[/nq]
Not quite so, Martin. "Ship date" is not uncommonly used in business. "What's the ship date?" would not raise any eyebrow. Google "ship date" and you'll see.
I would consider either of the two versions to be equally correct, but would add "expected" since the inquiry deals with the future.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It is "the shipping date," the date of shipping, not of "ship", whatever that might mean.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not quite so, Martin. "Ship date" is not uncommonly used in business. "What's the ship date?" would not raise any ... either of the two versions to be equally correct, but would add "expected" since the inquiry deals with the future.[/nq]
Fine. If he is dealing with people submerged in the jargon of that business, "ship date" might be right. If he is dealing with normal English-speakers, it smacks of either illiteracy or being trapped in a jargon-laden world.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Not quite so, Martin. "Ship date" is not uncommonly used ... would add "expected" since the inquiry deals with the future.[/nq]
[nq:1]Fine. If he is dealing with people submerged in the jargon of that business, "ship date" might be right. If he is dealing with normal English-speakers, it smacks of either illiteracy or being trapped in a jargon-laden world.[/nq]
Based on his question, I'd assume he's submerged in business. You wouldn't ask a question like that if you weren't involved with receiving goods from other businesses. If you were someone that just received the odd parcel or two, you'd just ask "When are you sending my..?"
What's "illiterate" about it? There's nothing illiterate about standard business conventions of correspondence. The objective of good business correspondence is to construct the correspondence in the style that the recipient is familiar with. A physics professor who orders a book from a publisher might ask when the book will be sent, but that's not how it's done business-to-business. My assumption is that the writer of the post is striving to sound professional in his own field. That's not illiteracy, and it is perfectly normal.

That physics professor might ask "Who pays for the shipping costs?", but in business the same question would be "What is the FOB point?" Jargon? Maybe, but questions should be answered applicable to the field that the questioner is involved in.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]If I wrote the following sentence which is correct; can you update me regarding the shipping date, or regarding the ship date?[/nq]
1. This use of update is jargon (from journalism, notbusiness) and should be specially avoided because it repeats the word date.

2. "Can you XYZ" is a common colloquial form ofpolite request but should be avoided in print in case it is read literally. It really means "Please send information about XYZ."
Translated, the request seems to be:
Please inform us of the date when the item was shipped.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]If I wrote the following sentence which is correct; can you update me regarding the shipping date, or regarding the ship date?[/nq]
[nq:1]1. This use of update is jargon (from journalism, not business) and should be specially avoided because it repeats the word date.[/nq]
It's a "which version" No duplication.
[nq:1]2. "Can you XYZ" is a common colloquial form of polite request but should be avoided in print in case ... information about XYZ." Translated, the request seems to be: Please inform us of the date when the item was shipped.[/nq]
Not necessarily. The inquiry can be when the shipping will take place. The "can you" is acceptable in this context since the supplier may not know at this time when the order will be available for shipment.
It may be jargon, and it may be grammatically unacceptable in the rarified atmosphere of aue or aeu, it's a quite ordinarily phrased question in the business world.
It may be ugly in a non-business setting, but "Please advise ship date of our PO #1045, your workorder #260937" is perfectly acceptable in business.
I dislike "advise" in this context almost as much as I despise "Enclosed please find". But, there's a fiddler on the business roof singing "Tradition".

Correct - ship or shipping date

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