Re:Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot
by wpietri on Wednesday March 28, 2012 @07:49PM
(#3768936)
Not really. There's a big practical difference between "X is minor" vs "I believe X is minor."
With the former, you're suggesting that anything else is false; with the latter, you're leaving room for other possibilities. Statements like the former often lead people astray, which is why some people suggest avoiding them entirely.
If you don't get the difference, try speaking in E-Prime for a month. I did, and it was really educational:
With the former, you're suggesting that anything else is false; with the latter, you're leaving room for other possibilities. Statements like the former often lead people astray, which is why some people suggest avoiding them entirely.
If you don't get the difference, try speaking in E-Prime for a month. I did, and it was really educational:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_prime