Re: Use of the first person in messages from the computer
Ian Jackson wrote:
> Wouter Verhelst writes ("Re: Use of the first person in messages from the computer"):
>> A computer cannot refer to itself, because it does not have a self.
>
> I'm sorry, but that is completely wrong.
>
> "README"
> "drink me"
> "<someone> me facit"
README is itself a reference to DRINK ME. "<Someone> me fecit" is a
practice from the days when writing was seen as almost magical, and
putting lettering on an artefact was the next best thing to giving it
the power of speech. But these days, in the world this side of the
looking-glass, I don't want my mobile phone user manual to say things
like "hold down my power button to turn me on". Even in-car speaking
GPS systems don't say "we have arrived at our destination".
If the package we were discussing was one that provided debconf with
an Eliza module, I could see the attraction of this approach. For
xfonts-traditional, not really.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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