On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 08:26:02PM +0200, Lennart Poettering wrote: > On Mon, 15.10.12 13:35, Dave Reisner ([email protected]) wrote: > > > > > On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 06:15:18PM +0100, Colin Guthrie wrote: > > > 'Twas brillig, and Tom Gundersen at 15/10/12 17:57 did gyre and gimble: > > > > On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 6:14 PM, Andrew Eikum <[email protected]> > > > > wrote: > > > >> The trouble is "resp." isn't used in English, ever. > > > > > > > > For what it is worth, "resp." is commonly used in mathematics. I don't > > > > know about technical writing in general though. > > > > > > Yeah I've seen it plenty times while going through university, so while > > > it might not be used in prose, I've never had an issue with this kind of > > > abbreviation being used in documentation and have always understood it's > > > meaning. > > > > > > That said, the German abbreviation doesn't necessarily translate > > > directly into an English one, so if there is any doubt just don't > > > abbreviate it. > > > > > > As a general rule, I would be against replacing it with a simple "or" as > > > that really can change the meaning. This is technical documentation and > > > thus syntax more aligned to common prose is not always desirable. > > > > Sure, that's all well and good, but if the documentation is written in > > English, and native English speaking people have to go out of their way > > to figure out what it is means, isn't that a sign that perhaps it should > > be revised? > > > > Personally, I think its entirely the wrong usage of the word, > > abbreviated or not. > > > > "Start showing entries newer or of the specified date, resp. older or of > > the specified date" > > > > Perhaps simply be written as: > > > > "Show entries since or until the specified date." > > I deliberately didn't use "since" and "until" in the explanation, to > clarify that the date comparison is ">=" instead of ">" and "<= instead > of "<", respectively. > > So, here's what I'd propose: > > --since=, --until= > Show entries newer or of the specified date, or > older or of the specified date, respectively. > > Does that make sense to you?
replace "or of" with "than" and I give it a +1. > > > "Show entries newer or older than the specified date, respectively." > > > > I don't believe that using "respectively" as a conjunction is > > grammatically correct. > > Yeah, the problems appear to be: the German "bzw." is an infix, the > english "respectively" is a postfix. And the abbreviation "resp." > doesn't appear to be common and hence should better be avoided... The joy of language... I'm enjoying a dose of the reverse being stuck in Zurich for a little while. d _______________________________________________ systemd-devel mailing list [email protected] http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
