13 ms·
From the post: """It’s always bothered me that you can simplify “Simplify, simplify, simplify”""" No, you can't really. You can just say "simplify" but it does
by batista 15y ago
From the post: """It’s always bothered me that you can simplify “Simplify, simplify, simplify”"""
No, you can't really. You can just say "simplify" but it does not convey the same message.
That is, it conveys a suggestion to simplify (the first part) but it doesn't convey that simplification has so extreme importance that it's worth to repeat the message (the second part).
- kami8845 15y agoSimplify * 3 ?
- batista 15y agoNot the same because it only makes sense to programmers, not a very large percentage of Thoreau's readership (or today's general population).
- kami8845 15y agoi was half-joking, but you honestly thin that today's general population isn't familiar with simple multiplication?
- batista 15y ago>i was half-joking, but you honestly thin that today's general population isn't familiar with simple multiplication? Fuck, if I have to be a pedant, I'd better go all the way: well, they might be, but 1) they don't use * as the multiplication symbol, but ~ "x". 2) they don't multiply words and numbers... Repeating a string this way is something programmers do.
- kami8845 15y agoAs pointless as this discussion is, I originally wrote `x` but considering my audience is mostly programmers changed it to `*` I don't think anyone will have difficulty grasping that 'Simplify Simplify Simplify' and 'Simplify x 3' can be considered equal.
- anonymous_mouse 15y agoIf you have to be a pedant and tell people to use a multiplication symbol, then use a multiplication symbol. The symbol is × (×), not the letter X.
- batista 15y agoIf you want to be a better pedant, you better start paying attention, like for example to the fact that I alluded to x not being the multiplication symbol by a) putting it in quotes and b) writing ~ "x", where ~ is the well known "approximately equal to" math symbol.
- zaptheimpaler 15y agoCongratulations! You just won the pedantic comment of the day award!
- swernoxidation 15y agoThoreau just might have been ironic.
- batista 15y agoYes, and both the poster's thought and my response might have been tongue in cheek too. It's not like I thought of it as a serious question, I just added it for the benefit of anyone confused by the contradiction.
- jQueryIsAwesome 15y ago"Simplify!!!"