Larry Wall wrote:
On Thu, Dec 06, 2007 at 09:36:36AM -0700, Thom Boyer wrote:
From S02:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The double angles may be written either with French quotes, «$foo
@bar[]»||, or with "Texas" quotes, <<$foo @bar[]>>,|| as the ASCII
workaround.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm curious about the naming of "Texas" quotes.
My guess is that the name is inspired by the existence of a town called
Paris, Texas. That city's name might remind you of France, but isn't the
real thing. Similarly, <<Texas Quotes>>|| might remind you of «French
Quotes», but they're not quite as elegant.
Have I got that right?
Good guess, but no. It comes from the fact that Texas always bragged
about how they were the largest state in the union, and had the biggest
everything, including ten-gallon hats. That was before we added Alaska.
Now if they pull that stunt we offer to carve Alaska up into 4 states,
in which case Texas would be the 5th largest.
But Texans still like to think big, and we love 'em all to pieces for it.
Especially Patrick these days... :)
Larry
So, it's because <<this>> is so much bigger than «this», "this", or 'this'?
By the way, as a native Texan, I find offensive your claim that Texas*4
< Alaska. The truth is hurtful enough:
Texas*2.1787 = Alaska
I had to carry it out to 4 decimal places so I wouldn't have to round
the last digit UP.
:-)
=thom
