3 ms·

That's how language works. Eavesdropping once referred to water dropping off the eaves of a roof. There is mostly no "log" that "logging in" writes to. The menu

by yodon 1mo ago

That's how language works. Eavesdropping once referred to water dropping off the eaves of a roof. There is mostly no "log" that "logging in" writes to. The menu itself has nothing to do with food or eating. Is the meaning clear to contemporary readers or listeners? Yes.

DonHopkins 1mo ago
I once heard a non-english speaker say "logining", and that made so much more sense than "logging in".
- noja 1mo ago
  Noun versus verb. Did you log in (space: split verb)? What is your login (no space: noun)? Do you have a backup (noun)? Did you back up (verb)?
  - earleybird 1mo ago
    Did you do a backup :-)
  - tgv 1mo ago
    Very succinct Calvin & Hobbes quote: "Verbing weirds language"
jerf 1mo ago
Etymological fallacy: https://www.logicalfallacies.org/etymological-fallacy.html https://www.logicalfallacies.org/etymological-fallacy.html
- andrewstuart2 1mo ago
  I'm not applying this to your response but I immediately wondered if this exists on the site and it does: https://www.logicalfallacies.org/fallacy-fallacy.html https://www.logicalfallacies.org/fallacy-fallacy.html
  - jerf 1mo ago
    An underrated fallacy in general. (Of course I'm just giving a common name to something that was identified, not accusing anyone of having the etymological fallacy in this conversation.)
- deleted 1mo ago
  [deleted]
jacobolus 1mo ago
This use of "logging" comes from the "logbook", a book recording what happened on a ship, which was called that because a literal log (i.e. part of a tree) attached to a rope was used to measure the ship's speed. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_log https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_log https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logbook_(nautical) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logbook_(nautical) In the modern computing context, "logging in" does involve adding entries to a kind of (digital) record-keeping tool.
jibal 1mo ago
> There is mostly no "log" that "logging in" writes to. Um, there is, actually. On the etymological front, "log" was originally an actual wooden log, dragged behind a ship. It then became the book in which measurements of the log's speed were entered. The UCLA Computer Club had a log -- a book with dated entries. Someone augmented that with a wooden log ... an intricate culture developed around this pairing. Traces of this are preserved: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_690512 https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_69051... (That drawing is a pretty good representation of the actual log. And there's another memorialized pun: MUS stood for machine unit second, which was the computing center measurement unit -- the Computer Club had a quota for submitted jobs [card decks].)
deleted 1mo ago
[deleted]

by yodon 1mo ago

DonHopkins 1mo ago

I once heard a non-english speaker say "logining", and that made so much more sense than "logging in".

noja 1mo ago
Noun versus verb. Did you log in (space: split verb)? What is your login (no space: noun)? Do you have a backup (noun)? Did you back up (verb)?
- earleybird 1mo ago
  Did you do a backup :-)
- tgv 1mo ago
  Very succinct Calvin & Hobbes quote: "Verbing weirds language"

jerf 1mo ago

Etymological fallacy: https://www.logicalfallacies.org/etymological-fallacy.html https://www.logicalfallacies.org/etymological-fallacy.html

andrewstuart2 1mo ago
I'm not applying this to your response but I immediately wondered if this exists on the site and it does: https://www.logicalfallacies.org/fallacy-fallacy.html https://www.logicalfallacies.org/fallacy-fallacy.html
- jerf 1mo ago
  An underrated fallacy in general. (Of course I'm just giving a common name to something that was identified, not accusing anyone of having the etymological fallacy in this conversation.)
deleted 1mo ago
[deleted]

jacobolus 1mo ago

This use of "logging" comes from the "logbook", a book recording what happened on a ship, which was called that because a literal log (i.e. part of a tree) attached to a rope was used to measure the ship's speed. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_log https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_log https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logbook_(nautical) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logbook_(nautical) In the modern computing context, "logging in" does involve adding entries to a kind of (digital) record-keeping tool.

jibal 1mo ago

> There is mostly no "log" that "logging in" writes to. Um, there is, actually. On the etymological front, "log" was originally an actual wooden log, dragged behind a ship. It then became the book in which measurements of the log's speed were entered. The UCLA Computer Club had a log -- a book with dated entries. Someone augmented that with a wooden log ... an intricate culture developed around this pairing. Traces of this are preserved: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_690512 https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_69051... (That drawing is a pretty good representation of the actual log. And there's another memorialized pun: MUS stood for machine unit second, which was the computing center measurement unit -- the Computer Club had a quota for submitted jobs [card decks].)

deleted 1mo ago

[deleted]