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I feel like this article should replace OR with XOR. It's unfortunate English doesn't have a commonly used word for XOR. Maybe we should start saying xor as th
by beebmam 3y ago
I feel like this article should replace OR with XOR. It's unfortunate English doesn't have a commonly used word for XOR.
Maybe we should start saying xor as though it is a normal English word, pronounced "zor"?
- samirillian 3y agoI've thought the same thing, haha. I was thinking about going the other way though, with dor for and/or and or for xor. We already have doff and don, which for some reason seem like similar constructions.
- sshine 3y agoYes, when reading the headline, I thought "the moral is: pick (inclusive) OR!". Which in this article is called "AND" (which logically requires both, rather than allows both).
- kayodelycaon 3y agoEnglish determines exclusive OR, inclusive OR, and AND using context. This kind of ambiguity really drives us logical people nuts. :)
- tomxor 3y agoThanks. I feel less alone now :)
- Shrezzing 3y agoWe do the same with "up to" too. I have no idea how non-native speakers learn the English language. > Count up to 20 Is a prompt to count up to, and include, twenty. > Describe the events up to WWII Is a prompt to describe the events leading up to WWII, but leave out the war itself.
- adrianmsmith 3y agoI'm not sure if I agree with that. > Describe the events up to WWII For me that sounds like you would include WWII, just like if you counted up to 20. > Describe the events leading up to WWII Then I would agree, that would be "explain the set of events on which WWII depended" so that would include all prior events which are relevant to WWII, without including WWII itself, but also missing out any events not relevant to WWII, so not e.g. "OK so the ice age was before WWII, so let's start there". (Native English speaker, from UK).
- kayodelycaon 3y agoIn my experience, spoken English is relatively fault tolerant, which probably makes speaking it less challenging than it first appears. To become proficient, you slowly learn the rules. Not sure how this compares to other languages. I’ve only observed other people learning the language. As a typical American, I only speak American English. If you mentioned the boot of a car, I’d probably ask if you meant the tires. ;)
- qzw 3y agoI think the difference in this case is that we naturally parenthesize the sentences differently: (Count up) to 20. and Describe the events (up to) WWII. Because "count up" and "count down" have precedence over "up to" in the linguistic order of operations, so to speak. There's of course no "describe up" or "events up", so "up to" has precedence in the second case.
- hecatia 3y agoNo one is forbidden to ask to clarify :)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- revolvingocelot 3y agoI suggest "ecks-or". This developed in university CS labs, as a result of exchanges like "OK are we going to finish the shell project tonight or shall I just slam my head into the desk until I fall unconscious?" "Yes"
- rob74 3y agoYeah, but the "everyday meaning" of AND is different too. Everyday meaning: you can have A and also B, but you don't have to; boolean logic: you have to have A and B, otherwise you don't have anything.
- yathern 3y agoI think "Either" is what makes an OR a XOR. "You can go with either red or green"