Re: where do so many tenses come from?

Lee Sau Dan wrote:

But I still like using instant messaging (ICQ, Yahoo Messenger,
etc.) to chat with them.

António> Is that your medium of choice while in the same room with
António> your friends?

Your question is too general to answer.

It depends on what room it is. e.g. in a library where everyone is
expected to keep quiet, I'd definitely prefer IM to opening the mouth.
If the room is so noisy that I have to shout to be heard clearly, I'd
also prefer IM.

It also depends on the information to be communicated. If it is some
"secret" that I don't want others to get, I'd use IM instead of
speaking. If it's an error message, same code fragment or a unix
command, then it is more accurate and clear to type it than to say it.

That is, you prefer speech when speech works.


António> Of course, the CLI would have to be adapted.
No problem. I prefer CLI to GUI.

António> There you go again! What's 'no problem' with the CLI
António> having to be adapted? I meant that, to be used with
António> voice, some things should be adapted ('rm -rf /' is
António> clumsy to prounouce, but alternatives are easy to find,
António> 'copy'/'move' being easier to pronounce than 'cp'/'mv',
António> but care must be taken to eliminate homophones), or some
António> conventions could be made ('slash' for / and 'dash' for -
António> seem too heavy). -- am

Could you configure your gnumacs or something to put less of an indent on quotations?

You've hit the nail on the head! For *symbolic* information, it is
more direct to write/type than to say. I can write a very complex
mathematical formula easily and accurately. (e.g. the definition of
the Beta function, involving an integral.) To say it with the mouth
is very very hard and error-prone (I have to make sure the listener
understands the terms, at least).

But both speech or typing are so hopeless when it comes to that! I'd welcome some damn system that allowed people to write parentheses only seldom.
--
am

laurus : rhodophyta : brezoneg : smalltalk : stargate
.

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