Boris Borcic wrote: > Ken Tilton wrote: > >> "Now if you are like most people, you think that means X. It does not." > > > As far as natural language and understanding are concerned, "to mean" > means conformity to what most people understand, Humpty Dumpties > notwithstanding.
Nonsense. You are confusing that quality of natural language with most people's quality of being sloppy readers, or in your case, a sloppy thinker. Misapplying an analogy is not a question of usage -- when I said spreadsheet and they thought of spreadsheets, so far so good, right? -- it just sloppiness and laziness. I do it, too, all the time. :) Life is too short, we get by precisely by using partial information. You remind me of American educators recent (past several decades, that is) history of apologizing for asking students to work and softening the curriculum until they all get A's. Here is another analogy. Sometimes people hit the gas and think they hit the brake pedal. They crash around a parking lot pushing the gas pedal down harder and harder. Did they take out the brake pedal to avoid that confusion? No, they put an interlock between the brake and the ignition key. Same thing. :) kenny -- Cells: http://common-lisp.net/project/cells/ "Have you ever been in a relationship?" Attorney for Mary Winkler, confessed killer of her minister husband, when asked if the couple had marital problems. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
