Re:Undervalued Engineering Skills: Writing Well
by charlieda on Monday June 03, 2019 @08:00AM
(#20082241)
The RFC is far more useful in dealing with the word "should". It is used in the standards to mean something that is optional but strongly recommended ("there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a particular item"), whereas in english the first definition that comes up is "used to indicate obligation, duty, or correctness".
To me it seems that there could easily be confusion between these two interpretations.
Right, so use the dictionary we already have! Why do we need the RFC?
> "there's no possible way to disambiguate English"
This quote isn't from me. I didn't say that - I don't know where you've got it from.
> your repeated sarcasm and snark
Sarcasm and snark? I don't use those rhetorical devices if I can avoid it. I don't think I've used them in this thread at all! I don't know where you've got the idea that I'm not arguing seriously from. I'm sorry I gave that impression.
My legitimate argument is that nobody is honestly confused by words like must - nobody. The RFC is over-the-top formalism where it's not needed.