On 18 Aug 2010, William Gill <> wrote:
> On 8/18/2010 4:20 AM, Neredbojias wrote:
>> Now many people in my part of the world use the term "dtd" to refer
>> to a doctype declaration. The technical correctness of that label
>> isn't really the point (-and it's a bit arbitrary, anyway.) The
>> _fact_ is that people hereabouts do often mean doctype declaration
>> when the say or write "dtd". It is a commonplace thing, and if you
>> weren't aware of it, being Finch and all, that is perfectly fine,
>> but to criticize my typical interpretation of what you failed to
>> adequately specify on your own initiative is an appalling breach of
>> conduct for a learned man. Perhaps a course on manners and
>> etiquette would be of benefit to your karma.
>
> I wish you wouldn't try to insinuate that "...my (your) part of the
> world..." is more inclusive than it actually is (geographically or
> otherwise).
>
> That having been said, it is not so rare that some people take the
> DOCTYPE declaration that references a DTD, to be synonymous with the
> DTD itself. That is like saying a reference to a book, and the book
> itself are the same thing. They aren't. On the other hand a little
> context is useful. When someone is talking about a DTD as a DOCTYPE
> declaration in a group about HTML, not a group about programming, it
> is easy to see what they are talking about. Even though they are
> technically incorrect. I personally might try to point out the
> technical inaccuracy diplomatically if I thought it mattered, but
> that's just me. When we fail to recognize context, or imply another
> context is the only correct context, we descend into a Tower of
> Babble instead of an open exchange of ideas. For someone to
> challenge you because your statements have nothing to do with
> developmental topographical disorientation (DTD), might be factually
> correct, but certainly wrong.
Yes, geographical location is not really significant to the import of
the content in this discussion, but from the way in which Jukka was
spouting-off I am led to believe that dtd as doctype declaration is
more common in my part of the world than in his. Nevertheless, his
insistence that he used the term in the technically-correct manner and
that's the only thing which matters is the real problem here. The fact
is that it _isn't_ the only thing which matters; common-usage is at
least as important as technically-correct usage yet this concept seems
to be deliberately ignored in replies composed to degrade the import of
the conversion via obfuscating, self-serving, and essentially
irrelevant references avoiding the simple point of my initial rebuttal.
This is an old debating trick, particularly of less-savory
politico-tyrants like Hitler and Idi Amin Dada, employed to squelch
dialogue when the dialogue became what they didn't want to hear.
Anyway, I've stated my opinion and believe further elaboration would be
superfluous. Let's move on to something lighter such as why so many
intellectually-talented persons are so narrow-minded and arrogant. For
an interim respite, though, let's trip the light fantastic with "The
Owl And The Pussycat":
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey,
and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married;
too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows;
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
- Edward Lear
--
Neredbojias
http://www.neredbojias.org/
http://www.neredbojias.net/
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