On 03/03/2015 00:23, Sturla Molden wrote:
Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.pyt...@pearwood.info> wrote:
Variations in idiom and spelling are a good thing. They open our minds to
new possibilities, remind us that we aren't all the same, and keep life
fresh. I remember the first time I realised that when Indians talk about "a
code" they aren't using "wrong English", they are using a regional
variation. In British and American English, "code" in the programming
sense[2] is a mass or uncountable noun, like air[3], milk, music and
housework.
I can assure you that in a veterinary sence, Yersey cows will produce a
milk with higher fat content.
Yersey?
In a lingustic sence the "a" is not a count -- that would be the word "one"
--, it is the indefinite article. Here is the difference:
The Enigma machine produced a code that only Alan Turing could break. If I
say the Enigma machine produced one code that only Alan Turing could break,
it means all the other codes could be broken by someone else.
No, it wasn't "a code" because not all the Enigma codes were broken.
What if I say "this file contains a long Fortran code"? Or what if I say
"this file contains one long Fortran code"? There is a subtile difference
in meaning here.
You might think so but I disagree, in UK English it means one and the
same thing, there is so subtle difference at all.
--
My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask
what you can do for our language.
Mark Lawrence
--
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