RE: Warning text

["Poshedly, Ken" <PoshedlyK -at- polysius -dot- com>]

Hi Eric,
 
Thanks for the honest and thoughtful reply. Re: my juxtaposition typo in
12 N and 12 M, all I can say is . . . . Ahhhhhhh! Ya got me!!
 
And, nope I don't lose any sleep over the stuff I put forth for you guys
to snicker at. It's just stuff that annoys me.
 
That's all. (Meryl Streep as fashion editor Miranda Priestly in "The
Devil Wears Prada")
 
(Again, thanks for the help.)
 
 
-- Kenpo

________________________________

From: eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com
[mailto:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com] 
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 10:12 AM
To: Poshedly, Ken
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Warning text



"Poshedly, Ken" wrote on 08/07/2006 09:16:54 AM:
> (Remember, common usage of incorrectness does NOT necessarily make it
correct.)

Perhaps. But obsessing over the mundane and meaningless just gives you
ulcers. 

> ---> "At this point in time, . . . " 

While I will agree the that the above phrase can in more cases than not
be replaced with the simpler "At this point, ", here's an interesting
discussion of time points: 
http://www.martinfowler.com/eaaDev/TimePoint.html 


> ---> "12 a.m." or "12 p.m." - Because "a.m." is the abbreviation for
> "ante meridiem" (before the meridian) and "p.m." is the abbreviation
for
> "post meridiem" (after the meridian)

In the same pedantic vein of argumentation, it is impossible to consider
exactly 12:00:00 am or 12:00:00 pm. Unless you have the power of
measuring infinitesimally small fragments of time. Even nanoseconds is
too large a measure. For as soon as the clock strikes 12 (or digitally
displays) as soon as you register it and a comparative eon before the
clock displays it's next unit of measure, the fleeting instant of
12:00:00.0000000 has long passed. 

For a simpler argument against the pedantic complaint of "Which 12 is
which?" simply consider this: Is 12:00:01 am or pm? Which ever it is, it
stands to reason (and by definition) the 12:00:00 preceding it was the
same. So, if 12:00:01pm occurs when the sun is up, 12:00:00 does as
well. 

This annoying existential argument about the nature of clocks and time
is matched only in futility by whether 12:00am is 24:00 or 00:00 on a
24-hr clock. Or perhaps whether decades and millennia begin in years 1
or 0.

> How'd I get this way? From years and years of bosses who didn't have a
> _grasp_ of the English language, they had it by the throat! 

Unfortunately, arguing the inconsequential and jousting against the
windmills of common usage, or that more annoying philosophical trait of
arguing improbable or rationally impossible paradoxes, does nothing to
boost one's credibility or popularity. 

Don't sweat the small stuff. 

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer



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