> Bob W., > You were good in math. whatever gave you that idea? I was hopeless at it at school.
What I was good at was languages and writing. I didn't get a mathematical qualification until I was in my late 30s, when I'd overcome the phobia that my teachers had beaten into me at school. > Surely you know that the only form of precise > communications is the mathematical formula. It works because we have > precise rules and definitions we have agreed upon in advance. > Coming from mathematics to language, I find language a very frail and > clumsy way to communicate. The relative merits of mathematics and natural language aren't relevant here, nor am I suggesting to Boris that his normal writing is clumsy or that he needs to be more precise. On the contrary, it is Boris who is worried about the quality of his writing and inventing obscure ways of trying to explain to us what his writing is already telling us. > Perhaps this is why gesture and facial > expressions are such an integral part of successful communications. > And why face-to-face communications are so superior to other forms. that's as may be, but we're not in a face-to-face situation. We're on a mailing list so writing is all we've got. These 'metamessages' that Boris has been adding to his normal writing are just another form of writing, but rather than helping to get his message across they are hindering it. For some reason known only to Boris he has decided that traditional writing is inadequate and that he can invent a better system. My message to Boris is this: Boris, your writing is fine. You don't need all the encrustations - they just make it worse. B -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
