My thoughts exactly. Custy, smart-alec, and derogatory.
Basically...made up.
At 00:50 2001-05-16 -0700, Harry Wyeth wrote:
>Well, my objection to the use of WOMBAT (the phrase, that is) is that it
>sounds cutsy and derogatory. If I were telling a neighbor that I thought
>he was doing something rather old-fashioned by "using WOMBAT measures", and
>explained what the term meant, he would think that I was telling him that
>he was a bad person. At least there is an implication to that effect. And
>that would be very counterproductive.
>
>In writing, a reader I was trying to convince would think that this is a
>somewhat rude term coined by metric boosters to put down everyone else. It
>is somewhat less than neutral, in other words. This is important point
>when trying to convince people.
>
>I don't know what the solution is. I prefer to use the old "ifp",
>inaccurate as it is, at least in writing.
>
>HARRY WYETH
>
>
