New punctations marks we all need to brush up on

[M.T. Miles]

I found this article amusing and thought I'd share it. http://www.collegehumor.com/article/...nctuation-mark...

[pdurrant]

See the jokes thread.

[QuantumIguana]

I admit the Morgan Freemark was amusing, prompting the reader to hear the text in Morgan Freeman's voice.

The Andorperspand, combining the ampersand, does illustrate a clumsiness of how English handles logic. "Or" can be vague because it can mean picking ONLY one or it can mean one or both. Similarly "if" can be vague, because it's not always clear if it means if or "if and only if." I've seen people write "iff" for "iff and only if," but the problem with that is how would you pronounce it?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I admit the Morgan Freemark was amusing, prompting the reader to hear the text in Morgan Freeman's voice.

The Andorperspand, combining the ampersand, does illustrate a clumsiness of how English handles logic. "Or" can be vague because it can mean picking ONLY one or it can mean one or both. Similarly "if" can be vague, because it's not always clear if it means if or "if and only if." I've seen people write "iff" for "iff and only if," but the problem with that is how would you pronounce it?

English is imprecise. I think that in general, English uses 'or' in the sense of 'exclusive-or', which is why an 'and/or' construction is required for the other meaning.

'If' generally does not mean 'if-and-only-if', which is why mathematicians often abbreviate the latter to iff (pronounced "if and only if") as it's a lot quicker to write!

[elemenoP]

Love it!

But if they have one for and/or, then I want one for s/he aka "he or she" . I do some technical writing and "he or she" is so clunky!

eP

Edit: I found a symbol for it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tr...ual_symbol.svg

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Love it!

But if they have one for and/or, then I want one for s/he aka "he or she" . I do some technical writing and "he or she" is so clunky!

I use the singular "they".

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I use the singular "they".

I would use that in speech and in an email, and I understand that language evolves and I hope this becomes standard... but... in a real document for distribution, I just can't do it. It's wrong.

eP

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I would use that in speech and in an email, and I understand that language evolves and I hope this becomes standard... but... in a real document for distribution, I just can't do it. It's wrong.

If the plural you can turn singular and supplant thou, I see no reason why they can't become singular too.

It's already correct, and of long-standing, in some contexts. E.g. "I would have everybody marry if they can do it properly." — Austen, Mansfield Park

But I agree that it still sounds odd in some circumstances.

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I would use that in speech and in an email, and I understand that language evolves and I hope this becomes standard... but... in a real document for distribution, I just can't do it. It's wrong.

eP

That's why most technical documents are written in the second person "[you] do this..."

[QuantumIguana]

"Today" used to be written as "to-day", so perhaps "and/or" might someday evolve to be "andor".

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

"Today" used to be written as "to-day", so perhaps "and/or" might someday evolve to be "andor".

Would that mean that it would be replaced by a small picture of an ewok?