06-22-2012, 11:44 AM | #31 |
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I'm fairly certain "sh!tpot full" isn't going away anytime soon.
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06-22-2012, 12:11 PM | #32 |
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I don't see language like "tons" disappearing in the forseeable future. It communicates effectively, for the vast majority of people "I have tons of pictures on my computer" doesn't give them pause. It communicates effectively, and language usage favors phrasing that communicates data most efficiently and clearly. People realize that the pictures don't literally have any weight, but that doesn't impede communication. Metaphors are a very important part of language. Most people aren't that interested in the details of what is going on in the circuitry, the metaphor is what interests them.
We use all sorts of physical metaphors which don't literally apply, and it doesn't give the slightest problem. We talk about windows, folders and files; these are useful metaphors. That's a good point about the floppy disk being used as an icon for saving, even though the floppy is obsolete. There are people who understand that icon without ever having actually used a floppy disk. I suspect that it will remain for some time, there's no other image which is obviously better. If there was an image that inherently conveyed the idea of saving, it might get adopted, but absent that, the floppy disk icon is as good as any. We say digital, but we don't really care that it is digital. We would use analog computers, but we instead chose to use digital. The distinction we are really making isn't between digital and analog, but between physical and electronic. Digital is exact for some things, but not for others. 01000001 is an exact representation of the letter A. But for music, digital is inexcact. In principle, analog can deliver the most accurare sound. |
06-22-2012, 01:36 PM | #33 |
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06-22-2012, 01:47 PM | #34 |
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Sound is inherently analog. Digital can only approximate the sound.
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06-22-2012, 02:07 PM | #35 | |
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06-22-2012, 02:16 PM | #36 | |
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The only ACCURATE analog reproduction would be another orchestra playing in an identical space! The only REAL argument for analog being objectively better than digital is the idea that there is a magical quality of music that can't be digitized...like a soul or something. Maybe there is, but I'm staying with my digital audio. ApK |
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06-22-2012, 02:23 PM | #37 | |
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06-22-2012, 02:32 PM | #38 | |
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Go figure. Just can't win. |
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06-22-2012, 02:35 PM | #39 |
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06-22-2012, 02:40 PM | #40 |
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06-22-2012, 02:45 PM | #41 |
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What's the latest idiom for thread derailment?
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06-22-2012, 02:52 PM | #42 |
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CDs have a sampling rate which is about twice the frequency of the highest frequency sound that humans can hear which some claim is not high enough to accurately reproduce higher frequency sound. Nevertheless digital audio with higher sampling rates can reproduce higher frequencies with higher accuracy.
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06-22-2012, 02:53 PM | #43 |
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06-22-2012, 02:59 PM | #44 |
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06-22-2012, 03:46 PM | #45 | |
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Now electronic devices are being introduced directly to consumers, so office-related idioms are being replaced with more human-friendly idioms... lie "tweeting," "texting" and "browsing." But again, use of a phrase by a popular or famous person can result in a new popular idiom; take, for example, the congressman who publicly referred to the internet as "a bunch of tubes," which has resulted in the web being referred to as "tubes" or "pipes." New idioms could end up being developed from the pipe metaphor. And we could get a new idiom at any time from a television show, a popular comedian, a clueless politician, a supermodel, a pop music icon or a cartoon character. It's an essentially random process; guessing the new idioms is like guessing the next hit movie or top-10 pop tune. |
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