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Re:How to Spot a Spook (1974) by nonbel on Sunday May 14, 2017 @05:41PM (#14337722)
>"The invariable indicators...agency officers usually had more than one working foreign language, their cover was usually as a “political” or “consular” official (often vice-consul); internal embassy reorganizations usually left agency personnel untouched"

Reading stuff like this is really irritating. Do the author and editors not know the meaning of "unchanging and invariable"? It just makes the entire article seem idiotic.

Re:How to Spot a Spook (1974) by xkcd-sucks on Sunday May 14, 2017 @10:03PM (#14338650)
Outside of formally defined abstract systems, "invariant" almost always means "usual"
Re:How to Spot a Spook (1974) by nonbel on Monday May 15, 2017 @08:05AM (#14340908)
I am a native English speaker and have never heard someone use "unchangeable" or "invariable" to mean anything other than the correct meaning: "not variable; not changing or capable of being changed; static or constant."
Re:How to Spot a Spook (1974) by vorg on Monday May 15, 2017 @06:12AM (#14340415)
And "impossible" means "difficult". I believe this feature of natural language is called hyperbole, and its study is part of the Linguistics subfield of Pragmatics.