Re: [HACKERS] The may/can/might business
Bruce Momjian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Tom Lane wrote: >> 3606c3606 >>> --- >> >errmsg("aggregate function calls may not be nested"))); >> >> I don't think that this is an improvement, or even correct English. > Uh, I think you might be reading the diff backwards. The current CVS > wording is "cannot". Er ... duh. Sorry about that; got confused while merging with some work-in-progress. Never mind. regards, tom lane ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 4: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org
Re: [HACKERS] The may/can/might business
Richard Troy wrote: > > On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Bruce Momjian wrote: > > From: Bruce Momjian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Tom Lane wrote: > > > 3606c3606 > > >> > nested"))); > > > --- > > > >errmsg("aggregate function calls may not be > > > > nested"))); > > > > > > I don't think that this is an improvement, or even correct English. > > > > > > You have changed a message that states that an action is logically > > > impossible into one that implies we are arbitrarily refusing to let > > > the user do something that *could* be done, if only we'd let him. > > > > > > There is relevant material in the message style guidelines, section > > > 45.3.8: it says that "cannot open file "%s" ... indicates that the > > > functionality of opening the named file does not exist at all in the > > > program, or that it's conceptually impossible." > > > > Uh, I think you might be reading the diff backwards. The current CVS > > wording is "cannot". > > No, Bruce, he got it exactly right: "cannot" indicates, as Tom put it, > "logical impossibility," whereas "may not" suggests that something could > happen but it's being prevented. His parsing of the english was spot-on. Right, but the changes was from "may not" (permission) to "cannot" (logical impossibility), which I think is what he wanted. Is there an open source grammar award we can win? :-) -- Bruce Momjian [EMAIL PROTECTED] EnterpriseDBhttp://www.enterprisedb.com + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. + ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly
Re: [HACKERS] The may/can/might business
On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Bruce Momjian wrote: > From: Bruce Momjian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Tom Lane wrote: > > 3606c3606 > >> --- > > >errmsg("aggregate function calls may not be nested"))); > > > > I don't think that this is an improvement, or even correct English. > > > > You have changed a message that states that an action is logically > > impossible into one that implies we are arbitrarily refusing to let > > the user do something that *could* be done, if only we'd let him. > > > > There is relevant material in the message style guidelines, section > > 45.3.8: it says that "cannot open file "%s" ... indicates that the > > functionality of opening the named file does not exist at all in the > > program, or that it's conceptually impossible." > > Uh, I think you might be reading the diff backwards. The current CVS > wording is "cannot". No, Bruce, he got it exactly right: "cannot" indicates, as Tom put it, "logical impossibility," whereas "may not" suggests that something could happen but it's being prevented. His parsing of the english was spot-on. RT -- Richard Troy, Chief Scientist Science Tools Corporation 510-924-1363 or 202-747-1263 [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://ScienceTools.com/ ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings
Re: [HACKERS] The may/can/might business
Tom Lane wrote: > 3606c3606 >--- > >errmsg("aggregate function calls may not be nested"))); > > I don't think that this is an improvement, or even correct English. > > You have changed a message that states that an action is logically > impossible into one that implies we are arbitrarily refusing to let > the user do something that *could* be done, if only we'd let him. > > There is relevant material in the message style guidelines, section > 45.3.8: it says that "cannot open file "%s" ... indicates that the > functionality of opening the named file does not exist at all in the > program, or that it's conceptually impossible." Uh, I think you might be reading the diff backwards. The current CVS wording is "cannot". -- Bruce Momjian [EMAIL PROTECTED] EnterpriseDBhttp://www.enterprisedb.com + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. + ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
[HACKERS] The may/can/might business
3606c3606errmsg("aggregate function calls may not be nested"))); I don't think that this is an improvement, or even correct English. You have changed a message that states that an action is logically impossible into one that implies we are arbitrarily refusing to let the user do something that *could* be done, if only we'd let him. There is relevant material in the message style guidelines, section 45.3.8: it says that "cannot open file "%s" ... indicates that the functionality of opening the named file does not exist at all in the program, or that it's conceptually impossible." regards, tom lane ---(end of broadcast)--- TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend