Re: Proposal: 6NF

"Brian Selzer" <brian_at_selzer-software.com> wrote in message news:cc2%g.16907$vJ2.7659_at_newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
> > error...*the*? *a*? What the hell does etymology and adjective has to
>
> I guess it's time for a grammar lesson. "a" and "the" are articles. "a"
is
> indefinite, whereas "the" is definite. If you really don't understand the
> difference, then perhaps you should go back to grammar school.

PMFJI. There's some indication that Cimode's native language is not English. The relationship between "the" and "a" is not the same in various languages. In Spanish, the definite article is used for various purposes that have no exact match in English. For example, the usage "el amor" would be translated into English as "love".

In new testament Greek, the distinction between "Ho Theos" and "Theos" (pardon my transliteration of Greek) makes a distinction that is not easily made as succinctly in English. It is NOT equivalent to the difference between "The God" and "God".

Beyond all that, Cimode's argument that you have to "demonstrate" your definition misunderstands the entire concept of a definition. A definition is (ahem, by definition) a convention that various communicators agree to use to assign significance to the messages they exchange. As such, definitions are not "right" or "wrong" so much as they are "useful" or "harmful". (See Marshall's comments going way back in this newsgroup).

Having said that, Cimode's appeal to his definition of "value" being "universally recognized in mathematics" carries some weight, if it can be verified. As you say, Brian, the wikipedia doesn't seem to verifiy it to the level of falsifying your definition.

Insults traded between people who have learned different definitions convey nearly no useful information, and should be omitted from the discussion. Received on Mon Oct 23 2006 - 16:08:50 CEST