Re: 'box' as noun, was: wireless can DHCP but not DNS?
On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:
> Tom Roche <Tom_Roche@pobox.com> writes:
>
>> Lisi Reisz Fri, 23 May 2014 17:10:49 +0100
>>> "box" is a verb, so I found it confusing.
>>
>> You are indeed confused. As a native speaker of English, I can assure
>> you, 'box' is both noun and verb.
>> Also, having been "in computing" in the US for decades, I can assure
>> you, 'box' as a noun is widely used to refer to informatic devices
>> generically.
>
> While you are correct, the sentence structure leads one to expect 'box'
> as a verb and 'ethernets' as a noun. Speaking as another native
> speaker, it took me two passes to read what was intended there.
Tip for future writers: If it might be ambiguous, tag the noun with an
article. "The box ethernets..." is unambiguously noun-then-verb; "Box
the ethernets..." is unambiguously verb-then-noun.
But this is off topic and I'm probably about to get told off for posting.
ChrisA
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