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From: riks@csl.sony.co.jp (Rik Smoody)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: "Ad Hoc" is not a bad word
Keywords: "ad hoc" prejudice connotation
Message-ID: <11306@socslgw.csl.sony.co.jp>
Date: 10 Jan 90 02:41:00 GMT
References: <646@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu> <130050@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
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>In article <646@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu> eberard@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Edward Berard) writ
es:
>>Jim Adcock has admonished me as follows:
>>
>>      "Can you please choose some other descriptor rather than "ad
>>      hoc polymorphism" ???  This term is not descriptive, is being
>>      applied to a technique that is certainly *not* "ad hoc," and
>>      sounds like it is intended to be prejudicial terminology --
>>      which I'm sure was not your intent!"
My dictionary[1] did not surprise me: it defines "ad hoc" as "For a
specific purpose, case, or situation".
I'll acknowledge that SOME people are applying the term inaccurately,
but several of the citations I saw here use the word quite descriptively.


As to "prejudicial terminology": I don't think it's fair to put "ad hoc"
in the same category with "communist", "intellectual", "interpreter",
and "sexism", which I'm sure was not your intent.  8-/

"prejudicial" itself is a word with some loaded connotations... mostly bad.

I hope you (Jim) don't mind that the world needs some "ad hoc" things.
Each of us, even us robots, has our idiosyncrasies.

[1] American Heritage Dictionary, 2nd College Edition

Rik Fischer Smoody
Sony Computer Science Lab, Inc.,  3-14-13 Higashigotanda
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141 Japan
(03)448-4380