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From: landauer@morocco.Sun.COM (Doug Landauer)
Newsgroups: comp.object,alt.folklore.computers,sci.lang
Subject: "paradigm" vs "hacker"
Summary: natural languages change
Keywords: natural_language, change, paradigm, hacker, methodology
Message-ID: <129213@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 13 Dec 89 23:15:12 GMT
References: <11294@goofy.megatest.UUCP> <14394@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> <11204@goofy.megatest.UUCP> <18518@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: landauer@sun.UUCP (Doug Landauer)
Followup-To: sci.lang
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 24

As Tim Budd put it (in comp.object), [Paradigm] " ... is one of those
words that once was defined to mean one thing, and has now been totally
redefined by our field."   (Methodology is another such word.)  Oddly,
at about the same time, there were complaints in alt.folklore.computers
about the way that the media has changed the meaning of "hacker".

I guess my purpose in this little missive is to point out the hypocrisy
of complaining about the newly-changed meaning of "hacker" while using
the newly-changed meanings of "paradigm" and "methodology".  (Not that
any of the mentioned or referenced posters (aha! another one!) did
this.)  Face it, words change their meanings over time.  They always
have, and always will, and there will *always* be people complaining
about it.  A "computer" used to be a person who was good at
arithmetic.  Don't worry so much about it.

I'm sure that "it's" and "its" will be interchangeable real soon now ...
they're already equivalent on USENET!  :-(   :-)  :-(  :-)  :-(  :-)

Followups (if any) would be more appropriate in sci.lang than anywhere
else that I can think of ... but what's really needed for this sort of
thing is a new "talk.lang" group.  (No, don't send me any votes!)
-- 
  Doug Landauer -- landauer@eng.sun.com   or   ...!sun!landauer   _
  Sun Microsystems, Inc. -- SPD, SET, Languages                  La no ka 'oi.