Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Nick Holland 
On 02/17/13 04:54, Jason McIntyre wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 01:29:00PM +0400, Nick Permyakov wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I might be nitpicking, but the sentence "This will take awhile..." at 
>> the bottom of http://www.openbsd.org/stable.html doesn't seem very 
>> grammatical to me. I'd suggest fixing it to read "...take a while...".
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> Nick Permyakov
>> 
> 
> i thought it sounded strange too, so i looked it up. from collins
> cobuild:
> 
>   awhile: "Awhile" means for a short time. It is more commonly
>   spelled `a while', which is considered more correct, especially
>   in British English.
> 
> so i don;t think there's anything wrong with it, as such. having said
> that, it's written in the context of a make build. i wonder whether the
> author really wanted to suggest a short time ;)
> 
> jmc
> 

"a while"/"awhile" means a short time? wow.  I've always used it as
meaning "a long time".  'course, I usually say it with a sarcastic tone,
so maybe it's the sarcasm that gets the point across.

I've changed it to "This will take some time. Depending on the speed of
the system, it may take less than an hour to a week or more."

Nick.

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Alexander Hall 

On 02/18/13 19:48, Nick Holland wrote:

On 02/17/13 04:54, Jason McIntyre wrote:

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 01:29:00PM +0400, Nick Permyakov wrote:

Hi,

I might be nitpicking, but the sentence "This will take awhile..." at
the bottom of http://www.openbsd.org/stable.html doesn't seem very
grammatical to me. I'd suggest fixing it to read "...take a while...".

Best regards,
Nick Permyakov



i thought it sounded strange too, so i looked it up. from collins
cobuild:

awhile: "Awhile" means for a short time. It is more commonly
spelled `a while', which is considered more correct, especially
in British English.

so i don;t think there's anything wrong with it, as such. having said
that, it's written in the context of a make build. i wonder whether the
author really wanted to suggest a short time ;)

jmc



"a while"/"awhile" means a short time? wow.  I've always used it as
meaning "a long time".  'course, I usually say it with a sarcastic tone,
so maybe it's the sarcasm that gets the point across.

I've changed it to "This will take some time. Depending on the speed of
the system, it may take less than an hour to a week or more."


Not that I'm a native English speaker, but I've never ever interpreted 
"a while" as a _short_ time specifically, but mostly as a fair but 
reasonable amount of time relative to the context.


But then again, what's the definition of "short"? I guess that's 
depending on the context, too.


/Alexander

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Ted Unangst 
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 20:53, Alexander Hall wrote:
> On 02/18/13 19:48, Nick Holland wrote:

>> "a while"/"awhile" means a short time? wow.  I've always used it as
>> meaning "a long time".  'course, I usually say it with a sarcastic tone,
>> so maybe it's the sarcasm that gets the point across.

> Not that I'm a native English speaker, but I've never ever interpreted
> "a while" as a _short_ time specifically, but mostly as a fair but
> reasonable amount of time relative to the context.

A while is only short if it's a little while. The default is a big
while. :)

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread sven falempin 
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 2:53 PM, Alexander Hall  wrote:

> On 02/18/13 19:48, Nick Holland wrote:
>
>> On 02/17/13 04:54, Jason McIntyre wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 01:29:00PM +0400, Nick Permyakov wrote:
>>>
 Hi,

 I might be nitpicking, but the sentence "This will take awhile..." at
 the bottom of 
 http://www.openbsd.org/stable.**htmldoesn't
  seem very
 grammatical to me. I'd suggest fixing it to read "...take a while...".

 Best regards,
 Nick Permyakov


>>> i thought it sounded strange too, so i looked it up. from collins
>>> cobuild:
>>>
>>> awhile: "Awhile" means for a short time. It is more commonly
>>> spelled `a while', which is considered more correct, especially
>>> in British English.
>>>
>>> so i don;t think there's anything wrong with it, as such. having said
>>> that, it's written in the context of a make build. i wonder whether the
>>> author really wanted to suggest a short time ;)
>>>
>>> jmc
>>>
>>>
>> "a while"/"awhile" means a short time? wow.  I've always used it as
>> meaning "a long time".  'course, I usually say it with a sarcastic tone,
>> so maybe it's the sarcasm that gets the point across.
>>
>> I've changed it to "This will take some time. Depending on the speed of
>> the system, it may take less than an hour to a week or more."
>>
>
> Not that I'm a native English speaker, but I've never ever interpreted "a
> while" as a _short_ time specifically, but mostly as a fair but reasonable
> amount of time relative to the context.
>
> But then again, what's the definition of "short"? I guess that's depending
> on the context, too.
>
> /Alexander
>
>
i asked native english speaker,
apparently, taking awhile is always 'sarcastic', and never short.

It is fun to know that the sarcasm is exactly the same in french.

<>

moment is short, but it means a completely undefined time, probably not
very short.

so the sentence was correct, the 'manual' was wrong

-- 
-
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
/\

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread patrick keshishian 
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 12:24 PM, sven falempin  wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 2:53 PM, Alexander Hall  wrote:
>
>> On 02/18/13 19:48, Nick Holland wrote:
>>
>>> On 02/17/13 04:54, Jason McIntyre wrote:
>>>
 On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 01:29:00PM +0400, Nick Permyakov wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I might be nitpicking, but the sentence "This will take awhile..." at
> the bottom of 
> http://www.openbsd.org/stable.**htmldoesn't
>  seem very
> grammatical to me. I'd suggest fixing it to read "...take a while...".
>
> Best regards,
> Nick Permyakov
>
>
 i thought it sounded strange too, so i looked it up. from collins
 cobuild:

 awhile: "Awhile" means for a short time. It is more commonly
 spelled `a while', which is considered more correct, especially
 in British English.

 so i don;t think there's anything wrong with it, as such. having said
 that, it's written in the context of a make build. i wonder whether the
 author really wanted to suggest a short time ;)

 jmc


>>> "a while"/"awhile" means a short time? wow.  I've always used it as
>>> meaning "a long time".  'course, I usually say it with a sarcastic tone,
>>> so maybe it's the sarcasm that gets the point across.
>>>
>>> I've changed it to "This will take some time. Depending on the speed of
>>> the system, it may take less than an hour to a week or more."
>>>
>>
>> Not that I'm a native English speaker, but I've never ever interpreted "a
>> while" as a _short_ time specifically, but mostly as a fair but reasonable
>> amount of time relative to the context.
>>
>> But then again, what's the definition of "short"? I guess that's depending
>> on the context, too.
>>
>> /Alexander
>>
>>
> i asked native english speaker,
> apparently, taking awhile is always 'sarcastic', and never short.

Not according to dictionaries[1][2][4]. I've never thought "awhile" as
a sarcastic usage.


[1] http://thefreedictionary.com/awhile
a·while  (-hwl, -wl)
adv.
For a short time.
Usage Note: Awhile, an adverb, is never preceded by a preposition such
as for, but the two-word form a while may be preceded by a
preposition. In writing, each of the following is acceptable: stay
awhile; stay for a while; stay a while (but not stay for awhile).

[2] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/awhile
Adverb
awhile (not comparable[3])
For some time; for a short time.
Sit with me awhile.

[3] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#comparable

[4] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awhile
Definition of AWHILE

: for a while
 See awhile defined for English-language learners[5]
See awhile defined for kids[6]

[5] http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/awhile
awhile  /əˈwajəl/ adverb
: for a while : for a short time
▪ I'm going to sit and rest awhile. ▪ The rumor had been around awhile.

[6] http://www.wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=awhile




> It is fun to know that the sarcasm is exactly the same in french.
>
> <>
>
> moment is short, but it means a completely undefined time, probably not
> very short.
>
> so the sentence was correct, the 'manual' was wrong

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Alexander Hall 

On 02/18/13 21:43, patrick keshishian wrote:


[5] http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/awhile
awhile  /əˈwajəl/ adverb
: for a while : for a short time
▪ I'm going to sit and rest awhile. ▪ The rumor had been around awhile.


While definition and practice may very well differ and change over time, 
the examples above still demonstrates quite different amounts of time, 
both of which seems to be considered "awhile".


Well, OT and enough already. Cheers.

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Kevin Chadwick 
> > i asked native english speaker,
> > apparently, taking awhile is always 'sarcastic', and never short.  
> 
> Not according to dictionaries[1][2][4]. I've never thought "awhile" as
> a sarcastic usage.

Well I've never seen awhile written without a space so you can take
this with a pinch of salt but I've heard

"I'm gonna be a while so I'll have to give it a miss" and I've never
heard it rather than something like "I won't be long" even if in
reality that always means they will be ages ;-).

-- 
___

'Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work
together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a
universal interface'

(Doug McIlroy)
___

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Marc Espie 
On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 09:25:06PM +, Kevin Chadwick wrote:
> > > i asked native english speaker,
> > > apparently, taking awhile is always 'sarcastic', and never short.  
> > 
> > Not according to dictionaries[1][2][4]. I've never thought "awhile" as
> > a sarcastic usage.
> 
> Well I've never seen awhile written without a space so you can take
> this with a pinch of salt but I've heard
> 
> "I'm gonna be a while so I'll have to give it a miss" and I've never
> heard it rather than something like "I won't be long" even if in
> reality that always means they will be ages ;-).

This seems like a disturbing trend to me.
are we going to turn www into a dumbed-down international english slang ? ...

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread MD 

On 18/02/13 21:31, Marc Espie wrote:

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 09:25:06PM +, Kevin Chadwick wrote:

i asked native english speaker,
apparently, taking awhile is always 'sarcastic', and never short.


Not according to dictionaries[1][2][4]. I've never thought "awhile" as
a sarcastic usage.


Well I've never seen awhile written without a space so you can take
this with a pinch of salt but I've heard

"I'm gonna be a while so I'll have to give it a miss" and I've never
heard it rather than something like "I won't be long" even if in
reality that always means they will be ages ;-).


This seems like a disturbing trend to me.
are we going to turn www into a dumbed-down international english slang ? ...




Surely the true arbiter on whether "awhile" is an acceptable term and 
its meaning would be Professor Elvin Atombender of Impossible Mission 
(Epyx) notoriety.


His invitation to "Stay awhile..." correlates with the implication of 
the original text and seems to communicate succinctly the scenario...

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Chris Cappuccio 
Marc Espie [es...@nerim.net] wrote:
> 
> This seems like a disturbing trend to me.
> are we going to turn www into a dumbed-down international english slang ? ...


Yeah, we need some more translations of www. What should we call the
mix of hillbilly, valley girl, inner-city slang, and various grunts?

Re: Fixing a phrase in /stable.html

2013-02-18 Thread Nick Holland 
On 02/18/13 19:51, Chris Cappuccio wrote:
> Marc Espie [es...@nerim.net] wrote:
>> 
>> This seems like a disturbing trend to me.
>> are we going to turn www into a dumbed-down international english slang ? ...
> 
> 
> Yeah, we need some more translations of www. What should we call the
> mix of hillbilly, valley girl, inner-city slang, and various grunts?
> 

"Nick@'s writing style"
SOMEONE had to say it!

Nick.