GNU -- G'no way...

[Kevin M. Gleason]

Just think how gramartarians would have fixed Toy R US.

Kevin

"John Chambers,,,781-647-1813" wrote:

> John Abreau wrote:
>         > I was lecturing to my students yesterday and was asked 'what does GNU
>         > stand for?'. My response was the standard line -- "Gnu Not Unix."
>         > My English Majors (students) said, 'You cannot include the name of the
>         > definition in the definition'.
>         > I responded, "Programmers can...ever hear of recursion?"
>         >
>         > My question... was I being a smart S or a revolutionary? OR!! Am I wrong
>         > entirely?
>
>         Consider the source; the objection was from an English major, i.e. a
>         Mundane. He's not one of us, so it's not surprising if he doesn't get it.
>
>         My favorite has to do with commas and quotes. Due to typographic
>         considerations, commas that functionally belong outside a set of quotes
>         often get stuck inside quotes to make the printed output more visually
>         appealing. English majors then declare that this is how it should be,
>         regardless of how it mangles the parsing of a sentence, and will whine
>         that it's wrong to put the comma outside where it really belongs, even
>         when typography isn't an issue.
>
> One of my favorite rules of writing is:
>
>    Don't use commas, which aren't necessary.
>
> In any case, there is the definition from the original Hacker's
> Dictionary:
>
>    recursion: n. See recursion.
>
> Methinks the problem is merely a student who is humor-impaired.
> So  far,  medical  research doesn't seem to have come up with a
> treatment for this crippling disability.

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