Hi, Anton!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  While many sources regard "period" & "full stop" as
AH>  synonymous, BTW, my inclination is to think of a period
AH>  as a punctuation mark (.) which is used in various ways
AH>  but may be called a "full stop" at the end of a sentence.

AS>  This distiction between the punctuation character and one 
AS>  of its functions is very useful, do hold on fast to it.


          Thank you.  I intend to....  :-)



AS>  We must strive to use words that best express the tints,
AS>  shades, and nuaces of our intended meaning, lest we lose 
AS>  those fine niceties -- first from our thoughts, and then
AS>  from our language.


          Yes.  The English language is like a fine musical instrument capable of great precision & sublety in the hands of a skilled player, but in order to become a skilled player one must develop an ear for such niceties & be willing to work at improving one's skill.  Fuzzy thinking & imprecise language do seem to go together as often as not.  At times I wonder which came first.  However, once I've learned the name of something (or someone) I begin to notice details which might otherwise have escaped me... and I know how to look it up.

          Others may ignore such niceties to "fit in".  I just read an article in which, after devoting four paragraphs to explaining the differences between yams & sweet potatoes, the author reverts to the nomenclature older members of her family used as soon as she introduces them & their favourite recipes.  She justifies this by saying the terms are "generally interchangeable" in the USA, but "many Black cooks" still make the distinction (as do Canadians, BTW).  :-)



AH>  However, it seems I am often overruled because double 
AH>  spacing isn't allowed in programming jargon.

AS>  Do you mean double spacing between sentences? 


          Yes.  Opinions are divided nowadays WRT the issue, but it matters to me because my audience in E_T includes many people who are not native speakers of English & for whom the added white space could be helpful.  I hear from the employees at the bank & other local businesses that they often feel frustrated because whoever compiled the software they're using has never done *their* job
... and I find myself in much the same position.  Yes, I know what others mean either way.  Like you, however, I don't give up on traditional methods without learning how they worked & how they might still be of use to us.  Years ago my parents taught me to "reduce, re-use, and recycle" before we had a slogan like that to induce whomever to accept what their elders could have told them.  :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+