3 ms·

Well I think there is a major difference, you can be a perpetual grad student but get good stuff done. Usually you end up as a post doc for a while but never ge

by nkassis 16y ago

Well I think there is a major difference, you can be a perpetual grad student but get good stuff done. Usually you end up as a post doc for a while but never get a real prof position for whatever political reason. I know a lot of good grad student that are in school after almost a decade (in grad school). So the ineffectual part is a major difference. There also people like me, sticking around universities for a while, using public funds to code cool projects that wouldn't happen anywhere else because it's not something that would be commercializable. I wouldn't call myself ineffectual ;)

randallsquared 16y ago
I believe gparent was pointing out that the phrase "ineffectual and perpetual grad student", nuance aside, literally means the same thing as "ineffectual perpetual grad student".
- jeromec 16y ago
  In my mind inserting the 'and' separates the 'ineffectual' and 'perpetual' so it appears the person being described could be a perpetual grad student as an independent idea -- but maybe they just love school life, so it's not really anything negative. Leaving the 'and' out, however, implies to me the person is probably a perpetual grad student because of being ineffectual.
  - nkassis 16y ago
    Exactly what I'm thinking. If you remove the and there are two interpretations ( blame english for this). both ineffectual and perpetual or just perpetual or just ineffectual.
    - jeromec 16y ago
      Yes, unfortunately no language is an optimum form of communication, so we rely on other cues (often body language when available) to try to determine what an author/speaker really means to convey. Word choice does play a role in that, which is why I think pg (or anybody) would prefer to be quoted correctly :)
scott_s 16y ago
I don't think there is a semantic difference, since I would probably transcribe what pg said he said as "ineffectual, perpetual grad student." Note the comma, which implies an "and" relationship between adjectives.

by nkassis 16y ago

randallsquared 16y ago

I believe gparent was pointing out that the phrase "ineffectual and perpetual grad student", nuance aside, literally means the same thing as "ineffectual perpetual grad student".

jeromec 16y ago
In my mind inserting the 'and' separates the 'ineffectual' and 'perpetual' so it appears the person being described could be a perpetual grad student as an independent idea -- but maybe they just love school life, so it's not really anything negative. Leaving the 'and' out, however, implies to me the person is probably a perpetual grad student because of being ineffectual.
- nkassis 16y ago
  Exactly what I'm thinking. If you remove the and there are two interpretations ( blame english for this). both ineffectual and perpetual or just perpetual or just ineffectual.
  - jeromec 16y ago
    Yes, unfortunately no language is an optimum form of communication, so we rely on other cues (often body language when available) to try to determine what an author/speaker really means to convey. Word choice does play a role in that, which is why I think pg (or anybody) would prefer to be quoted correctly :)

scott_s 16y ago

I don't think there is a semantic difference, since I would probably transcribe what pg said he said as "ineffectual, perpetual grad student." Note the comma, which implies an "and" relationship between adjectives.