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The European Space Agency, not 'Europe'. Just as annoying as calling the EU Europe, and calling both Europe despite different membership is just confusing.
by graemep 8mo ago
The European Space Agency, not 'Europe'. Just as annoying as calling the EU Europe, and calling both Europe despite different membership is just confusing.
- anonymars 8mo agoIs metonymy really so unreasonable in this title?
- donohoe 8mo ago“North America puts man on the moon” Yes. Yes it is.
- anonymars 8mo agoNow let's evaluate "America puts man on moon"
- embedding-shape 8mo agoDidn't think it was possible, but yes, you made it even worse.
- anonymars 8mo agoA good title is brief and clear. "'Miracle': European Space Agency reconnects with lost spacecraft" is long. "'Miracle': ESA reconnects with lost spacecraft" is opaque. The first four words of the article are, "The European Space Agency..."
- close04 8mo agoESA is one of the largest space agencies in the world. There’s nothing opaque about calling it ESA especially in a title. We wouldn’t use initialisms if everything had to be expanded all the time.
- anonymars 8mo agoSo is Roscosmos, but in such a situation, "Russia reconnects with lost spacecraft" would be the more accessible title
- close04 8mo agoPersonally I would prefer to call it "Roscosmos/ESA connects..." than "Russia/Europe connects". It adds information for free while keeping it short, just put it in the title. ESA is more specific than Europe or EU, so why make the title more generic and opaque than needed? It tells you it's not a random team of "Europeans", it's not an amateur hacker in the backyard, or some intelligence agency. The expansion isn't really needed when it's a "household name" in the field. If you read a title about space industry there's no need to expand or explain NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, maybe not even for ISRO or JAXA, although I can see how some of these wouldn't be the most familiar for people in the West even when they have some interest in space news.
- graemep 8mo agoIts a common term for the USA that has no other meaning. The content is North America, the two continents are the Americas. No ambiguity. Europe properly means the continent so it is far more like saying "North America puts man on moon" than saying "America puts man on moon". Ambiguity is always bad. Some people say its clear, but I am sure a lot of others thought an EU agency reconnected with a spacecraft. Its interesting that people get so upset about asking for correct and unambiguous language.
- wat10000 8mo ago“America” has no other meaning? So USA means United States of USA?
- margalabargala 8mo agoExactly, their name is a zip bomb.
- wat10000 8mo agoDoing recursive acronyms centuries before it was cool.
- close04 8mo ago> Its a common term for the USA that has no other meaning Except, you know, the only “other” meaning of “America” is just literally the alternative name for Americas, both continents. Here is an obscure link to the description [0]. Even if you want to refer to North America, what about Mexico and Canada? The less you know, the less ambiguous it is. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas
- Timwi 8mo agoYou have it exactly right. I read the title the way it was intended and I think the complaint was pedantic.
- notahacker 8mo agoI doubt there's anyone in the small group of people that actually need to care about the distinction between EU and ESA spacecraft who doesn't already know this is an ESA mission anyway, and if such a person exists they can probably read as far as the first four words...
- ifwinterco 8mo agoIn theory this could be about Roscosmos since they're based in Moscow
- vrganj 8mo ago"America landed on the moon" vs "NASA landed on the moon".
- bryanrasmussen 8mo agoit was a great accomplishment, all of NASA getting there and at the same time!! Personally not a fan of this sort of pedantry.
- wat10000 8mo agoLife is more enjoyable if you put your focus on understanding what’s being said rather than policing how it’s said.
- anonymars 8mo agoIt's such an interesting mission too, keeping the spacecraft synchronized enough with incredible precision so that one can cast a shadow in just the right place on the other, all while the orbital mechanics of gravity are constantly insisting otherwise "Given the diameter of the occulter disk on the OSC and the intended corona observation regions, the CSC must be approximately 150 meters from the OSC and maintain this position with millimetric accuracy, both in range and laterally"