Bug#210879: constitution.txt: fractured developers
M. Srivastava said:
> I would strongly oppose such a GR. We do not need to bring in
> confusion about rounding up or rounding down -- right now, there is
> no confusion, mathematically speaking, about the comparison.
By such mathematical standards, press flubs like "Squad Helps Dog Bite
Victim", or "Red Tape Holds Up Bridge"** are perfectly correct, since
those flubs authors' had only particular meanings in mind, and not the
equivocal stuff they unwittingly printed.
(**both headlines were anthology titles of comic press bloopers compiled
by the Columbia Journalism Review back in the '80s. The books are a hoot.)
Opining that there's no confusion for smart people is blaming the
messenger for the bad news he brings. It's also like the fabled "Ugly
American" who shouts at people when abroad, because he thinks if they
can't understand English, that they're probably deaf or daffy.
A clumsy conversationalist can squeak by because their listeners can ask
them what was meant until there is understanding. With prose the author
is seldom present, so the goal is to take extra care to get it right the
first time.
What do we get for our troubles? Amplified strength, in a way. A good
programmer's work can save the time of thousands of users; so in a way,
one programmer can do, or help do, the work of thousands, or millions.
In the same way, a good author can save the time of thousands or
millions of readers. (Whereas a bad author can waste the time of
thousands, and in a way, one lazy writer or editor can retard the
thinking and waste the work of thousands. "Vita brevis, Ars longa.")
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