[PLUG] Re: [PLUG-ANNOUNCE] ANNOUNCEMENT: May PLUG Meeting

[Randal L. Schwartz]

>>>>> "Bill" == Longman, Bill <longman at sharplabs.com> writes:

Bill> A line from the front lines: in 10 years, I've heard it referred to as
Bill> almost exclusively, pun intended, as "X". From a Data General workstation
Bill> guy, a NMR spectroscopist on a Sun, to developers on Linux and Suns. Some
Bill> might use "X Windows" when talking to lay people but the vast majority just
Bill> say "X".

Right.  Maybe my sensitivity is cranked up high because I mostly
write for a living.

But darn it.  Microsoft Windows has NOTHING to do with X.  So calling
it "X Windows" is just wrong.  X11 is *very* unambiguous, if you need
to adorn the X with something else.

I've given up on "emails", although that still just sounds wrong to
me.  (You don't get "mails"... so why should you get "emails"??!!)
Please let me fight my one last pedantic point in peace!

Oh wait, I still get pedantic about qualifiers, such as "only" or
"just" or "all".  For example, every Verizon ad ends with

        Not available in all areas

which if you interpret literally means it's not offered *anywhere*,
because it's simpler to parse it as "not available" "in all areas"
rather than "not" "available in all areas".

They should have used the much simpler:

        Limited availability

Or

        Not available in some areas

if they really wanted to make it clear.

OK, rant rant rant.  Maybe I need to be de-stressed today. :)

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn at stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
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