Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uupsi!sunic!dkuug!ruc.dk!jba From: jba@gorm.ruc.dk (Jan B. Andersen) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.risk Subject: Risk of the trade (was Re: GIFS WON'T WORK (sniffle) Message-ID: <1991Jun21.090010.9325@gorm.ruc.dk> Date: 21 Jun 91 09:00:10 GMT References: <677390460.3@blkcat.FidoNet> Organization: Roskilde University, Denmark Lines: 34 Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f421.n109.z0.FidoNet.Org (Charlie Mingo) writes: >takahash@ntmtv.UUCP (Alan Takahashi) writes: >AT> I have to admit, I'm totally confused here. You can't 'download' a file >AT> from Usenet...it has to have been posted by someone. > Perhaps you should take a peek at alt.sex.pictures (no pun intended), >which is a Usenet newsgroup filled with GIFs. I'll bet the poster is referring >to something along those lines. (Gifs are uuencoded and segmented when >distributed over Usenet.) No, Alan Takahashi is right, in the strict sense. I guess that conversations along the lines of User: I want to download some files from Usenet Programmer: You can't. or User: I have a 5.0 disk Programmer: No, you haven't. is quite common in the world of EDP and computers. At least, it is something I have discussed and seems to share with many colleages here at the university. Programming and the use of programming languages with their strict syntax and semantics, also affects how we use spoken language. Sloopy wording gets nailed almost automatically - just for the fun of seeing the innocent person getting confused, when s/he thought it was a "5.0 disk" as opposed to a "5 1/4 inch floppy disk in MS-DOS format with some Word Perfect 5.0 documents on it". What should we do about it? Should we try to educate them in how express themselves correctly or should we let them get away with it? --- Jan B. Andersen ("SIMULA does it with CLASS")