Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!hayes!tnixon
From: tnixon@hayes.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: comp.dcom.modems lexicon
Message-ID: <3836.27d77b6a@hayes.uucp>
Date: 8 Mar 91 11:54:18 GMT
References: <1991Mar5.225546.6672@panix.uucp> <19552@cbmvax.commodore.com> <3832.27d4dcf9@hayes.uucp> <1991Mar7.115717.17186@robobar.co.uk>
Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA
Lines: 26

In article <1991Mar7.115717.17186@robobar.co.uk>,
ronald@robobar.co.uk (Ronald S H Khoo) writes: 

> ...
> If you equate full duplex with just plain duplex, then how do you say
> duplex without specifying whether it's full or half?

Well, I guess it like saying "sandwich" vs. "half a sandwich".  It's 
rare in our language that we find it necessary to explicitly state 
"whole", "entire", or "full" when referring to something; that we 
mean "all of it" is generally implied.  We only add the modifier 
when we need to.  Since the definition of "duplex", all by itself, 
is "a dwelling with two separate living areas" -- no wait, wrong 
definition -- "able to transmit two messages simultaneously in 
opposite directions on a single wire" (American Heritage Dictionary, 
1982), further qualification with the word "full" is considered to 
be unnecessary.

If I live in a single-family house, does that mean I live in a "half 
duplex"?

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-840-9200  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
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