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The cake is too pretty to eat. The child is too full to eat. Both are fine. Human language is like that.

• posterboy 9y ago
  What is "that", or rather how? "broken"? Language is inherently underspecific, yes, but that's the opposite of "fine". The passive is well understood, therefore it should be used. It just baffles me how coders could glance over this. I probably would't have said anything if the topic wasn't a legal matter where precise language is paramount. Suddenly you are framed for cannibalistic tendencies.
  • thaumaturgy 9y ago
    FWIW I agree that your version is more readable, and since I'd like my writing to not suck someday, I appreciate the edit. Suggesting edits to others' comments on HN is tricky though because it will usually at best be off-topic for the conversation, and at worst lead to several off-topic comments, as in this case. For that reason they tend to get downvoted.
    • posterboy 9y ago
      Well it clarified for me that the focus on big firms was apparently true.
  • taejo 9y ago
    "Fine" as in the syntax of English allows both. "Like that" in that yes, human language is incessantly, pervasively ambiguous. Most utterances are technically ambiguous. In this case your suggestion certainly is clearer than the original, but the original isn't wrong, and HN isn't a law court or a writing circle and you're not our sub-editor, so if you didn't understand something or want to clarify something for other readers, go ahead and do that graciously, rather than "correcting" with a brusque "fixed that for you".