rostamia@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Dr. Rouben Rostamian ) (07/13/88)
I am generally quite satisfied with the literary quality :-) of DEC's manuals, program descriptions, sales pitches, etc. So I was somewhat taken aback when, looking up some input terminator codes for SMG in sys$library:starlet.pas (and in smgdef.pas, too,) I came across, among benign key names such as smg$_k_trm_lowercase_a, smg$k_trm_dollar_sign, the key name smg$k_trm_explanation_point. "Explanation point!" I exclamimed. "This should be a newly invented punctuation mark at DEC world, or a special character created by the mysterious Compose key." Alas, upon further investigation I discovered that an ``Explanation Point'' is somebody's idea at DEC of what his or her grammar teacher used to refer to as an ``exclamation point'' and write thusly "!". Rouben Rostamian rostamia@umbc3.umd.edu
CADS_COLE@GALLUA.BITNET ("Kevin Cole at Gallaudet U. Washington DC") (07/20/88)
Date sent: 19-JUL-1988 17:07:40 Rouben Rostamian <rostamia@umbc3.umd.edu> writes: >"Explanation point!" I exclamimed. "This should be a newly invented >punctuation mark at DEC world, or a special character created by the >mysterious Compose key." Alas, upon further investigation I discovered >that an ``Explanation Point'' is somebody's idea at DEC of what his or her >grammar teacher used to refer to as an ``exclamation point'' and >write thusly "!". I dunno... I kinda like it better as "Explanation point"... Or just call it BANG! and be done with it. Personally, I never know whether things like that are intentional (i.e. a joke) or not (i.e. a mistake). I cite TECO's "MAKE LOVE" and a debugger named DDT as two examples of the fun and frivolity that makes DEC what they are today. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kevin Cole <Flatline> | Bitnet: CADS_COLE@GALLUA.BITNET Center for Assessment and | or Demographic Studies (CADS) | KJCOLE@GALLUA.BITNET Gallaudet Research Institute (GRI) | UUCP: ...!psuvax!gallua.bitnet!kjcole Washington, D.C. 20002 | CompuServe: 76167,1406 (202) 651-5575 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"