boxing ring for kendor, D&J and the rest of the world!!

[david and julie]

Panjandrum, kendor is meaningless anyway and certainly not worthy of to much comment. Course I can call him anything now, because he's sucking his dummy and can't reply.

You did surprise me with this though.

As for the long sentences, they will have some meaning, or sometimes several possible meanings. As a literalist (or alternatively a pedantic git) with a lot of exposure to contracts and business proposals I am well-used to associating meaning (or meanings) with word sequences and

I have no gripe with you but, do you really mean that you would base a poorly worded business contract on what you assumed was meant? What would happen if it was done on purpose and you were consequently found wrong? I would of thought it more sensible to ascertain the correct meaning, like I tried to with kendor.

 

[AdamW]

Unfortunately I remember little of my latin. I generally remember the insults, "caudex", "nothus" etc.

Also the latin word for "hooray!", "euge!". That one always caused much hilarity due to its similarity in sounding to "are you gay" (snigger)

I do, however, remember the latin names for the months. Quintilianus is no doubt stemmed from the word "Quintilius" which was of course the month of July. Which is very similar to Julie. Ooooh, is this some kind of Dave'n'Julie conspiracy? Is Panjandrum... Dave's alterego?

Anyway, we're missing the point here... You said anus. Narf narf!

 

[Panjandrum]

...do you really mean that you would base a poorly worded business contract on what you assumed was meant?

Ah, no, in fact quite the reverse: if having read the words I found any ambiguity or was unhappy with the meaning I would check back.

What would happen if it was done on purpose and you were consequently found wrong?

Hasn't happened yet - "found wrong" - gasp of shock and horror [/arrogance]
It comes from years of analysis and reading and writing of system specs.

EDIT On the other hand, a bit of deliberate ambiguity can be very useful - along the lines of "You will indeed be fortunate if you can persuade this man to work for you."

 

[AdamW]

It comes from years of analysis and reading and writing of system specs.

But I'm the only systems engineer in this village!

We are professional pedants, I suppose, but I seldom read a spec that is in good English. They are always unambiguous to within 6 sigma, but seldom readable.

 

[Panjandrum]

But I'm the only systems engineer in this village!

No challenge - my tech expertise stopped being relevant long ago.
But I still carry the burden of the mindset that made for precision and quality back then.