The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

hoodaticus · 2011-08-04 Reply Admin

Captain Oblivious:
jc:
SeySayux:
"Verbing the noun" is an example of "Verbing the noun" and therefore autological (i.e. self-describing).
QUESTION: Is "autological" an autological word? Discuss.

But you left out the other half of that old logicians' joke: The term "heterological" refers to a word that is not self-describing.

Then you ask your victim(s) to decide whether "heterological" is autological or heterological.

Only undergraduates find that funny. Linguists take the issue raised very seriously. Wittgenstein offers a respectable solution to the linguistic version. Certainly, to assume that words "denote" "concepts" is misguided.

It's a linguistic version of Russell's Paradox (the set of all sets that don't include themselves).

That's not Russell's paradox. The paradox is that such a set can be defined using Frege's naive set theory[1], but that it cannot be given non-contradictory semantics. In other words, the paradox is that our unexamined, "natural" notion of what a set is is contradictory.

There are many solutions to the paradox, such as requiring sets to be well-founded or well-typed. The constructive "solution" is of this type, though the paradox is a non-problem in a constructive set theory. It is unknown if Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory is consistent, due to Godel's first incompleteness theorem, and the embedding of the natural numbers into the set theoretic ordinals. Indeed, Godel's first incompleteness theorem pretty directly implies that non-standard models of arithmetic are isomorphic to rational-like order types.

[1] And Cantor's, and pretty much everybody elses' except for Intutionists/Constructivists like Brouwer.

+10 We need more of this and less* of the trollshite.

- but only a wee bit less

2011-08-04 Reply Admin

Captain Oblivious:
jc:
SeySayux:
"Verbing the noun" is an example of "Verbing the noun" and therefore autological (i.e. self-describing).
QUESTION: Is "autological" an autological word? Discuss.

But you left out the other half of that old logicians' joke: The term "heterological" refers to a word that is not self-describing.

Then you ask your victim(s) to decide whether "heterological" is autological or heterological.

Only undergraduates find that funny. Linguists take the issue raised very seriously. Wittgenstein offers a respectable solution to the linguistic version. Certainly, to assume that words "denote" "concepts" is misguided.

It's a linguistic version of Russell's Paradox (the set of all sets that don't include themselves).

That's not Russell's paradox. The paradox is that such a set can be defined using Frege's naive set theory[1], but that it cannot be given non-contradictory semantics. In other words, the paradox is that our unexamined, "natural" notion of what a set is is contradictory.

There are many solutions to the paradox, such as requiring sets to be well-founded or well-typed. The constructive "solution" is of this type, though the paradox is a non-problem in reality.

Just to offer some perspective.

EvanED · 2011-08-04 Reply Admin

My one pet peeve of language that I will sometimes go out of my way to correct is the use of "i.e." for "for example."

Why? Because I want to use "i.e." correctly (i.e., as "that is"), but I often feel like I can't or I'll be misunderstood because it's been misused so much.

I'm losing the war of course, but I'm too stubborn (and too much of a dick) to give up completely.

2011-08-04 Reply Admin

Posted with successfulness!

boog · 2011-08-04 Reply Admin

EvanED:
My one pet peeve of language that I will sometimes go out of my way to correct is the use of "i.e." for "for example."
Why? Because I want to use "i.e." correctly (i.e., as "that is"), but I often feel like I can't or I'll be misunderstood because it's been misused so much.

I'm losing the war of course, but I'm too stubborn (and too much of a dick) to give up completely.

My thought is that I really don't care if another person wants to use a term/word/phrase/etc. incorrectly, just as long as they know they are using it incorrectly. So I give them the knowledge and let them decide if they want to A) better themselves with proper usage, or B) continue to be a moron because "everyone else's doing it".

Either way, it's entertaining.

2011-08-04 Reply Admin

Severity One:
Steve The Cynic:
I was going to say that "lol" is not a verb, but of course it is. However, it doesn't mean what homo sapiens internetis thinks it does, nor is it spelled that way.
Perhaps not in English, but 'lol' is a noun in Dutch, and it means, interestingly enough, 'fun'.
So if something is 'lollig' (funny), you would LOL.

This again proves how far ahead the Dutch are when compared to less civilised peoples (basically, the rest of the planet) because this internet-lingo was already part of the language even before the internet was invented.

So, just because Dutch coincidentally had a word in their language that happened to match an acronym that came to life with the Internet (IRC, whatever), you convinced yourself that Dutch have been more advanced in general? You're dumb (it's even irrelevant whether Dutch are more advanced then any other nation, and I'm not even denying or agreeing with that) - yes, you're dumb.

I speak 2 other languages that are not even in the same family as English. There are a ton of [derogatory] words that appear in English, whether their usage is same, similar, or different. Hell I met people whose last name is, translated, "Gay", "Penis", "Chicken", and similar.

The point is, what you said makes no fucking sense (to compare languages that way). Hell, not even "American" and "British" English should be compared to that effect.

2011-08-04 Reply Admin

David Emery:
Me? No. That's because I've avoided VB and .NET and similar MS proprietary technologies like the plague. But as a user I've seen such bizarre items pop up (well beyond the Friday VWTF - Visual WTF postings)
p.s. The CAPTCHA for my posting was "vulputate". Have you vulputated today? (Apparently this is something one should do for encouragement at sporting events and similar activities.)

Emery, you first don't know what you're missing. Next, implying that MS dev technologies are bad in any way is just plain and simple stupid. Oh, wait, thoughts are not stupid - it's the people that have them that are. There you go (you're probably a weasel of a programmer, anyway).

2011-08-04 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
dohpaz42:
Hortical:
forgottenlord:
The purpose of language is to communicate.
Did you understand what the author intended to say? Yes? Objective met.

The irony is:

-The reason for using correct spelling and grammar is to make a message clear.

-In order to correct someone's grammar, you would have to clearly understand what their underlying message is to know that your correction is valid.

-If you can correct someone's grammar, it is not necessary to correct their grammar.

Be careful what you ask for; last I heard, they no longer push spelling in school, so long as "it's close enough". Soon we're going to have an entire generation who can't spell nething.

It's better to be pedantic about some things (like spelling and grammar) than the alternative(s).

Edit: Had to correct my own spelling. ^_^;;

Morans can't do speling.

If I get a CV cross my desk where the grammar and spelling are incorrect it goes straight into the circular file. I may miss out on some shit-hot programmers that way, but at least I know the proposals, sales materials and other assorted documents have a fighting chance of looking professional. Maybe the applicant got someone else to correct the spelling and grammar - no problem, it just indicates a preparedness to get someone else to check the work.

+1

hoodaticus · 2011-08-04 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
lucidfox:
Hortical:
-In order to correct someone's grammar, you would have to clearly understand what their underlying message is to know that your correction is valid.
You would have to understand. Other readers wouldn't.
Not everyone is a native English speaker, or a proficient enough non-native speaker to parse bad grammar.

Those whose first language is not English frequently have better grammar and spelling than those for whom English is their mother tongue.

This is even more the case with Spanish. I cremated all native speakers in written Spanish at some competition in Miami. I also beat them in spoken, but I ended up second-place to a Brazillian who spoke Portugese half the time, so wtf.

2011-08-04 Reply Admin

validus:
I speak 2 other languages that are not even in the same family as English. There are a ton of [derogatory] words that appear in English, whether their usage is same, similar, or different. Hell I met people whose last name is, translated, "Gay", "Penis", "Chicken", and similar.

As a milder example, I once met a foreign (to me) lecturer named Herr Tischbein, or "Mr Tableleg" in translation. He never found his name remotely amusing, but I still get a chuckle out of it.

What does this prove? I guess that context is everything.

2011-08-05 Reply Admin

EvanED:
My one pet peeve of language that I will sometimes go out of my way to correct is the use of "i.e." for "for example."
Why? Because I want to use "i.e." correctly (i.e., as "that is"), but I often feel like I can't or I'll be misunderstood because it's been misused so much.

I'm losing the war of course, but I'm too stubborn (and too much of a dick) to give up completely.

I feel your pain. Was thinking on the same problem earlier today, coincidentally. My current solution is to write "for example" or "that is" in full, to ensure no misunderstanding. It's a fraction of a second's more keyboard rattle and space is rarely paramount (as paper is rarely used nowadays).

Misuse of "its" and "it's" is my most hated peeve, along with "barbeque" for "barbecue" and "criteria" when "criterion" is intended. There are others, but they won't spring to mind immediately.

Serious contenders for my business may wish to take this on board.

2011-08-05 Reply Admin

boog:
hoodaticus:
boog:
QJo:
boog:
I really enjoy telling this story around vegetarians. Talk about squeamish.
If God hadn't meant us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of food.
Indeed - all food comes from living creatures. The tastier kinds are just harder to catch.
And they scream.
Yes, screaming is also an indicator of tastiness. This is why it's important to torture the creature first, for quality testing.

I tortured this grape just now by stepping on it. It didn't scream, but it did let out a little wine.

frits · 2011-08-05 Reply Admin

hoodaticus:
Matt Westwood:
lucidfox:
Hortical:
-In order to correct someone's grammar, you would have to clearly understand what their underlying message is to know that your correction is valid.
You would have to understand. Other readers wouldn't.
Not everyone is a native English speaker, or a proficient enough non-native speaker to parse bad grammar.

Those whose first language is not English frequently have better grammar and spelling than those for whom English is their mother tongue.
This is even more the case with Spanish. I cremated all native speakers in written Spanish at some competition in Miami. I also beat them in spoken, but I ended up second-place to a Brazillian who spoke Portugese half the time, so wtf.

That was probably a bunch of Latin American Spanish speakers who have different idioms dependant on their regional dialect. Plus, those jerks prpobably didn't even lisp their 'S's a la proper Castillian.

2011-08-05 Reply Admin

Jay:
Steve The Cynic:
Question: what is it that separates humans from the animals?

Alternative answer: Humans frequently write books and articles questioning whether there is any great difference between humans and animals. Animals have never been known to write such books and articles.

And octopuses frequently change the color and texture of their skin for better camouflage, which is what separates them from the animals.

Jay:
I can only conclude that anyone who says that humans are really no different than animals (or than "other animals" if you prefer), has never seen an actual animal outside of a Disney cartoon.

Of course animals of different species are different from each other, but we are all animals, so there can't be anything separating only a particular species from "the animals".

2011-08-05 Reply Admin

[quote user="pAnd octopuses frequently change the color and texture of their skin for better camouflage, which is what separates them from the animals. [/quote] obligatory xkcd

Die, Akismet die!

boog · 2011-08-05 Reply Admin

QJo:
boog:
...screaming is also an indicator of tastiness. This is why it's important to torture the creature first, for quality testing.
I tortured this grape just now by stepping on it. It didn't scream, but it did let out a little wine.

I tortured an onion the other day and it didn't scream. I felt so bad for needlessly chopping it up, I even cried a little.

2011-08-05 Reply Admin

JamieC:
ill0gical0ne:
Steve The Cynic:
It just makes us stupider and stupider.
As referenced by your word "stupider."
Ive always prefered endumbening

But that will embiggen stupidency!

CAPTCHA: minim - you should minim your stupidency!

hoodaticus · 2011-08-05 Reply Admin

boog:
QJo:
boog:
...screaming is also an indicator of tastiness. This is why it's important to torture the creature first, for quality testing.
I tortured this grape just now by stepping on it. It didn't scream, but it did let out a little wine.
I tortured an onion the other day and it didn't scream. I felt so bad for needlessly chopping it up, I even cried a little.

Oh that's good. Very nice.

hoodaticus · 2011-08-05 Reply Admin

frits:
hoodaticus:
Matt Westwood:
lucidfox:
Hortical:
-In order to correct someone's grammar, you would have to clearly understand what their underlying message is to know that your correction is valid.
You would have to understand. Other readers wouldn't.
Not everyone is a native English speaker, or a proficient enough non-native speaker to parse bad grammar.

Those whose first language is not English frequently have better grammar and spelling than those for whom English is their mother tongue.
This is even more the case with Spanish. I cremated all native speakers in written Spanish at some competition in Miami. I also beat them in spoken, but I ended up second-place to a Brazillian who spoke Portugese half the time, so wtf.

That was probably a bunch of Latin American Spanish speakers who have different idioms dependant on their regional dialect. Plus, those jerks prpobably didn't even lisp their 'S's a la proper Castillian.

One of my Spanish teachers learned Spanish in Castille as a foreign exchange student. It drove me nuts before she explained that it's the British accent of the Spanish speaking world. Still, to the American ear, it just sounds gay. "Dipthong" sounds pretty gay too.

Thankfully, my next Spanish teacher was La Senora Cabrerra, from Colombia. She did not speak a word of English, which made us learn much, much faster. It was from her that I learned that the verb form of Mama' is very offensive.

2011-08-05 Reply Admin

Steve The Cynic:

Question: what is it that separates humans from the animals?

Some talk about intelligence, tool-use, tool-making, or opposable thumbs. Others mention the power to do good, or evil, or to act nobly, or ignobly. Still others discuss religion, music, or art.

They are all wrong. [snip]

What separates oranges from fruit?

btw, correct me if i'm wrong:

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mamallia Order: Primata Family: Homo Genus: Sapiens Species: Sapiens

oheso · 2011-08-07 Reply Admin

I'm sure I'm not the only one who will celebrate when zunesis finally gets laid and the rest of us can go back to enjoying our little blog.

oheso · 2011-08-07 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
Those whose first language is not English frequently have better grammar and spelling than those for whom English is their mother tongue.

QFT. I once worked in a department where the only other worker with a prayer of writing anything that was understandable, concise, grammatically correct and spelled properly was French. And English was his fourth language.

At least 90% of the other workers claimed English to be their mother tongue, and they were all helpless.

oheso · 2011-08-07 Reply Admin

Swedish tard:
Engrish, soon to be more better than american english.

FTFY.

oheso · 2011-08-07 Reply Admin

ashaped:
And to support your thesis, while we humans laugh at stupidity, note that animals don't laugh.

Evidently human humor is too juvenile for them to get worked up about!

2011-08-07 Reply Admin

Lord0:
You gotta love:
"Restarted ur facebook! with successfulness."

All ur facebook are belong to us.

2011-08-07 Reply Admin

dohpaz42:
While the messages for the MsgBox's are funny, I don't see a WTF here. If that is all the code contained in the vbscript, then it's nothing more than just annoying. However, the story implies that there was more code, but it wasn't put in the article? Now that's TRWTF.

There is no more code. Users are so stupid, this is an mental virus, it infects loose mamal brains of dumber people.

2011-08-07 Reply Admin

Hortical:
forgottenlord:
The purpose of language is to communicate.
Did you understand what the author intended to say? Yes? Objective met.

The irony is:

-The reason for using correct spelling and grammar is to make a message clear.

-In order to correct someone's grammar, you would have to clearly understand what their underlying message is to know that your correction is valid.

-If you can correct someone's grammar, it is not necessary to correct their grammar.

This is why grammar is futyle and disuseful. you can never assure what was the original intent.

2011-08-07 Reply Admin

#define failureemptyness 1 #define successfulness 0

2011-08-07 Reply Admin

anonymous:
Steve The Cynic:

Question: what is it that separates humans from the animals?

Some talk about intelligence, tool-use, tool-making, or opposable thumbs. Others mention the power to do good, or evil, or to act nobly, or ignobly. Still others discuss religion, music, or art.

They are all wrong. [snip]

What separates oranges from fruit?

btw, correct me if i'm wrong:

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mamallia Order: Primata Family: Homo Genus: Sapiens Species: Sapiens

R: nothing, we are animals. 5% difference genetic code. There is no such thing as rational/irrational, what exists is levels of intelligence. We are very arrogant also, this is the main diference.

2011-08-10 Reply Admin

Severity One:
Steve The Cynic:
I was going to say that "lol" is not a verb, but of course it is. However, it doesn't mean what homo sapiens internetis thinks it does, nor is it spelled that way.
Perhaps not in English, but 'lol' is a noun in Dutch, and it means, interestingly enough, 'fun'.
So if something is 'lollig' (funny), you would LOL.

This again proves how far ahead the Dutch are when compared to less civilised peoples (basically, the rest of the planet) because this internet-lingo was already part of the language even before the internet was invented.

In Flemish dialects, we also use the noun 'lol' as one of the synonyms meaning 'joke'. ■

2011-08-10 Reply Admin

<quote user=QJo> <quote user=EvanED>My one pet peeve of language that I will sometimes go out of my way to correct is the use of "i.e." for "for example."

Why? Because I want to use "i.e." correctly (i.e., as "that is"), but I often feel like I can't or I'll be misunderstood because it's been misused so much.

I'm losing the war of course, but I'm too stubborn (and too much of a dick) to give up completely.

</quote>

I feel your pain. Was thinking on the same problem earlier today, coincidentally. My current solution is to write "for example" or "that is" in full, to ensure no misunderstanding. It's a fraction of a second's more keyboard rattle and space is rarely paramount (as paper is rarely used nowadays).

Misuse of "its" and "it's" is my most hated peeve, along with "barbeque" for "barbecue" and "criteria" when "criterion" is intended. There are others, but they won't spring to mind immediately.

Serious contenders for my business may wish to take this on board. </quote>

Frankly I'm in on the irritation with grammar usage...

Their, They're, There. Get 'em right. 'Nuff said.

2011-08-21 Reply Admin

Not ESL like me, more likely a redneck

Manually-propagating Worm

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