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> Some of the oldest books are written on bamboo stripes, and others on clay tablets. exactly. there used to be physical scrolls too before the romans invented
by marvindanig 7y ago
> Some of the oldest books are written on bamboo stripes, and others on clay tablets.
exactly. there used to be physical scrolls too before the romans invented the paginated codex. all of those older tech died later because it was hard to beat direct access, referential accessibility and format-ability of the modern physical codex book. our current tech emulates the physical scroll too and is therefore not able to compete with dead tree books.
- Cederfjard 7y agoMerriam Webster: book noun \ ˈbu̇k \ Definition of book (Entry 1 of 3) 1a: a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory b: a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together between a front and back cover an address book c: a long written or printed literary composition reading a good book reference books hardcover and paperback books d: a major division of a treatise or literary work the books of the Bible eaccounting : a record of a business's financial transactions or financial condition —often used in plural the books show a profit f: MAGAZINE sense 1a g: E-BOOK [...] Cambridge Dictionary: book noun UK /bʊk/ US /bʊk/ A1 [ C ] a written text that can be published in printed or electronic form: [...] You're entitled to have your own rigid definition if you wish, but it's pretty silly to go in a public forum and try to browbeat others with it.
- moron4hire 7y agoI would say he is not entitled to any such thing, as he doesn't own the language.
- marvindanig 7y agoAh, the overflowing privilege of handing out entitlements? Your brethren doesn’t own the language either, you know that right?
- jshevek 7y agoThe situation is in no way symmetric, as only one party is claiming a non-standard limitation on valid uses of the language. The other parties are claiming both a standard and more permissive use.
- marvindanig 7y agoThis is a classic flat earth argument. ‘Because people are saying so...’ Proper definition is the only definition that there is. Improper definitions may be valid uses in colloquial speak, but that doesn’t work for accurate description of products at hand. Success of physical books, as in the data, is a proof of proper usage. I rest my case. Time to go back to work. Edit: Response to the child comment below: You're going in the wrong direction. That 'books are not files' is a plain fact. It has nothing to do with popular opinion or liberal usage of words. Although, if you were to look at it liberally through the lens of popular usage alone then also the usage and growth of dead tree books over the shallow market of files masquerading as ebooks will reveal the same plain fact.
- jshevek 7y ago>This is a classic flat earth argument. ‘Because people are saying so...’ No. Again you reason by false equivalence. The shape of the earth is not determined by popular opinion. The meaning of words is determined by popular usage.
- marvindanig 7y agoWikipedia: ‘A book is a set of printed sheets of paper held together between two covers.’ I’d say going by definitions on Merriam Webster and others shared by you + real data it is safe to err on the side of proper definition. And HN complaining about browbeating? I mean come on. :)
- jshevek 7y agoTo extract that, you had to go farther down the same page than this: >Book medium for a collection of words and/or pictures to represent knowledge or a fictional story, often manifested in bound paper and ink, or in e-books