GNU -- G'no way...

[John Abreau]

On Sat, 19 Feb 2000, Kevin M. Gleason wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> 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.

It's just another case where we don't see eye-to-eye with them.

--
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix 
Email: jabr at blu.org / URL: http://www.blu.org
ICQ#28611923 / AIM abreauj
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