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From: csma@lifia.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d,misc.misc
Subject: Re: Literacy was: smail pronounciation
Message-ID: <1813@lifia.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 14-Mar-87 10:31:25 EST
Article-I.D.: lifia.1813
Posted: Sat Mar 14 10:31:25 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Mar-87 13:40:09 EST
References: <667@rtech.UUCP> <1074@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu>
Reply-To: csma@lifia.UUCP (Christian de Sainte Marie)
Organization: LIFIA - IMAG, University of Grenoble, France
Lines: 35
Xref: utgpu comp.sources.d:450 misc.misc:694

In article <339ac040.ae48@apollo.uucp> arnold@apollo.UUCP (Ken Arnold) writes:
>
>Honestly, folks, can we talk about the evoultion of language in some
>other group?  Meanwhile, I'll say "bang" instead of "exclamation point"
>because (a) it's easier, and (b) it jerks the chains of certain people
>who can't admit that language changes to suit the needs of the speakers,
>not the other 'way round (mostly, anyway; debates on Sapir-Whorf
>*certainly* belong elsewhere).
>
>		Ken Arnold

Right, but beside the point!

It is totally incidental that we use the same key to write an
exclamation point and to call a UNIX command; it is thus totally
irrelevant to the discussion that musicians call a # a sharp, and 
typographers a & an ampersand. One can call ! an exclamation point,
but one cannot argue that in its UNIXical acceptation it is an exclamation
point (i.e.  that it must be called an excalmation point); for
myself I call it a "shell escape" (pronounce with a heavy french accent),
a "point d'exclamation", or a "potion" depending on the context.

Beside (but this is another discussion), I would say that while it makes sense
to say that XYZ is the name of object X, it does not make sense
to say that ZYX is not the name of X: I (or someone else) can always
rename it. Nobody can then argue that I must not call X ZYX; obviously I
can (but obviously I can expect from nobody that (s)he understands me
when I speak of a zyx; eg you probably haven't the least idea of what
object I name X :-).

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ch. de Sainte Marie - LIFIA/IMAG - BP 68 - 38402 St Martin d'Heres - FRANCE

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