Re: On computerese

[Kusoneko]

Sep 22, 2024 20:29:08 G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>:

> At 2024-09-23T00:08:15+0000, hohe72@posteo.de wrote:
>> Last but not least, haven't you ever realised how dense the Troff
>> User's Manual by J.F.Ossanna and B.W.Kernighan really is! No style, no
>> feelings, no glitter, no Latin.
> 
> No Latin...huh.
> 
> "Translate a to b, etc., on output."
> 
> "One common use of user-defined registers is to automatically number
> sections, paragraphs, lines, etc."
> 
> "10.3.  Backspacing, underlining, overstriking, etc."
> 
> "Numbers taken as horizontal (first, third, etc.)"
> 
> "Space-character size (i.e., inter-word spacing)"
> 
> "These values are additive; i.e., N=14 will invoke all three
> restrictions."
> 
> "Versions of a word with a terminal s are implied, i.e., dig-it"
> 
> "The sp request (§5.3) may be used in all cases instead of rt by spacing
> to the absolute place stored in a explicit register, e.g., using the
> sequence .mk R … .sp |\rnRu; this also works when the motion is
> downwards."
> 
> "Multiple-V line separation (e.g., double spacing)"
> 
> "All text processing (e.g., character comparisons)"
> 
> The foregoing is a sample of Ossanna & Kernighan's employment of Latin
> abbreviations in CSTR #54 (1992 revision).
> 
>> Shame on you, heirs!
> 
> I certainly look forward to reading _Troff: Blut und Eisen_ as a
> salutary example of prose style.
> 
> Regards,
> Branden

The Latin complaint about English text is possibly the funniest complaint I've 
seen to date. That's like complaining that Japanese text has Chinese 
characters. All languages that come from Western and perhaps some of Central 
Europe borrow heavily from both Latin and Ancient Greek, and a good chunk of 
them even descend directly from Latin.