resumé / resume

[xela]

I think there is no English word in common use that annoys me more, as regards its written form, than resumé. I try to be consistent about writing it with the accent in my own use, but I'm not happy about it. It's pedantic and it looks weird on the page in any context other than a book. But i've reluctantly decided that is less bad than using resume, which I as a reader (even of my own writing) always trip over, hearing it in my head as the verb pertaining to continuation. It's a no-win situation.

A question for my British readers: I get the sense that in your division of our common language, the brief written summary of your employment history that you submit with your application for a job is more commonly referred to as your vitae. Am I correct in that? It would certainly solve my problem. (In American usage, curriculum vitae or cv is a longer and more complete summary, and for the most part only university professors have one.)

Comments

[dpolicar]

Is it any weirder than the confusion engendered by other English words with multiple pronunciations, like "minute"?

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

I find it so, yes. Though I can't put my finger on why.

[ckd]

Isn't it actually résumé (two accents)? (Twice as weird-looking?)

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Either is correct (as is resume), according to both my Mac's Dictionary.app and m-w.com. The single accent on the final e is sufficient to alert an American reader of how to pronounce the word, even in isolation.

[siderea]

I thought that curriculum vitae already had a meaning in American: a variant sort of resumé used by academics, notable for being of unlimited length and listing publications not just positions.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

I believe I said that. When I say the (unconfirmed and possibly only in my imagination) British usage would "solve my problem", that's a sort of subjunctive-hypothetical would. As in, it would solve my problem if I could live and work in the UK. Or if the world was otherwise not as it is.

[alierak.livejournal.com]

Well, you could apply exclusively to overseas companies that would let you work where you are. MySQL used to be one of those IIRC.

[alierak.livejournal.com]

And yeah, they did ask for a CV.

[siderea]

Sorry, I thought you mean an implicit "were I to employ it as a direct substitute" in your present circumstances.

[tla]

I haven't ever heard a CV called a "vitae" over here (though of course I'm not a native.) In my experience it's just called a CV, and it's understood that an academic CV has different sorts of things on it.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I'm native English, and you're right. Academic CVs tend to be longer than industrial CVs but both are called CVs.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

CV (never heard of vitae) and that goes for industry folk as well as academics (and I have experience now of both areas!)

One might say, "May I send you my CV?" or "Can you pop your CV in the post to us?"
However, I for one would never send my CV actually labeled as such. The first line of my CV is my full name, there is no need to title the CV itself as "Curriculum Vitae." (Does that make sense?)

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Sure. By the same token, nobody in the US (well, nobody who wasn't wet behind the ears*) would title their resumé "Resumé of Joe Doofus".

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*Hmm. Is "wet behind the ears" (meaning "young and inexperienced") an American idiom, or do you use it over there too?

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Yes we do use it here, and I agree: putting 'CV' on your CV is only done by people with little CV content.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I always call it my CV. It would seem a little pretentious to spell out the Latin, but we do all know that's what it stands for.

Ok I'm an academic but people in other lines of work seem to use the term CV just as much. Resume (for which I don't know how to add the accent in LJ) sounds very American.