Re: OT: learning curve (was: a little comparison of procmail and maildrop)
On Thu, Nov 06, 2003 at 05:10:29PM -0500, David Yitzchak Cohen wrote:
> > > http://burks.brighton.ac.uk/burks/foldoc/69/65.htm
> > > Here, we have another one claiming Psychology to be the original
> > > definition. It should come as no surprise, then, that the author goes
> > > on to bash computer people for misusing it.
> > That's bashing? Ha. Then in your opinion, I must have been bashing
> > Allister.. Right.
> There are different degrees of bashing, you know. I certainly wouldn't
> say you were ramming a 10-ton dumptruck into him ;-)
Please don't do that! My bones are about as brittle as any human
being's. On the other hand, as someone who's played Live-Action
Role-Playing games, I certainly don't mind being pummeled a bit with
some PVC pipe wrapped in foam insulation and duct tape. :^)
...
> Official rules of English in Holland don't frighten me. I don't have
> to start worrying until our good friends at Webster decide to put it
> in their dictionary ... and when they do, I can point to the Oxford
> dictionary, which is a lot better at keeping crap out of our language.
> (Webster specifically states that their dictionary follows common use,
> and that the reverse is not intended to be the case.)
I kinda like having a crap language. I often use "ain't" in everyday
speech, and commonly say "like I said" instead of "as I said." What
disappoints me is people who are convinced that their way is the one
right way, and are unwilling to do any research (e.g. in Webster or
Oxford.) Especially if their way defies many standards, both de facto
and well-specified. (<- look! A sentence fragment! I'm so bad.)
Of course, I'm guilty of such chauvanism myself sometimes, as I'm sure
pretty much everybody is or has been at one time or another. One
incidence that sticks out in my mind is regarding the pronunciation of
"wyvern." I was adamant that it rhymed with "wither," until my cousin
had to virtually bean me with the dictionary to prove otherwise.
...
> I guess the best conclusion here is: don't use the term "learning curve."
> If you hear somebody else using it, pretend you didn't hear the words
> "learning curve" being used. If the guy tries to force you into a corner,
> pretend you didn't know that _that's_ what "learning curve" meant.
> If he tries to explain what it means, _then_ you can "let him have it!"
> This way, you're not actively fighting somebody else's war unless you're
> sucked into a battle - in that case, you're fighting that battle and
> nothing else. If you want to fight a battle just for the hell of it,
> though, please do the computer world a favor and pick one in the computer
> field, so you at least do us some good in the process.
Aie! I'm almost sorry I used the term in the first place. It's a
good thing that, if any of you grammarians (or should I say
punctilious purveyors of picayune pedantry) are gun-nuts, you have the
good judgment to keep those passions separate. I'd hate to end up in
front of a firing squad for abusing an ambiguous and oft-misused term.
Of course, I'm really not sorry at all. This thread has proved rather
interesting and has been a source of immeasurable amusement.
Ahh G'wan,
Allister
--
Allister MacLeod <amacleod@xxxxxxxx> | http://amacleod.is-a-geek.org/
Elen síla lúmenn'omentielvo.