On Tue, Mar 02, 2004 at 12:42:28PM +1100, Damian Conway wrote: : Well, it really depends on how neatly : one is able to write. It really isn't : that hard to create a fully justified : text that doesn't inflict pain on the : reader. English is especially good in : that regard, offering such a plethora : of synonyms for most common words, so : that it's easy to squeeze or expand a : piece of writing by enough letters to : fit it cleanly into specific margins.
Well, as both a linguist and a writer, I have to say that I don't really believe in exact synonyms, and while you can get away with trading diction for prettiness to some extent, nearly all efforts along those lines end up sounding a little bit wooden to my ears. : Hmmm. Maybe what C<form> really needs : to do when requested to fully justify : is to *re-write* the input so that it : just naturally lines up on the actual : margins, without any extra whitespace : needed in any line. Whenever it finds : a line that needs to be longer, maybe : it could query WordNet for every word : in the line, and find a collection of : synonyms that would, on replacing the : existing words, fill in the unsightly : gaps in the line. And, if no such set : of replacements could be found, maybe : it could resort to modifying the line : in other ways -- such as changing the : punctuation in some inconspicuous way : or as a last resort adding emoticons. : Problem solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-) I think you prove my point. :-) Larry
