My point is that _Elements of Style_ is not a set of rules. It's a nice book with generally good advice; it's not a style guide in a formal sense. If we wanted rules, _The Chicago Manual of Style_ or the_Associated Press Style Guide_ would be much closer to that. But neither of those actually removes subjectivity about what's clear either. On Sat, Jun 27, 2020, 1:24 AM Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> wrote:
On Sat, Jun 27, 2020 at 12:37:35AM -0400, David Mertz wrote:
Objectively, could I have dropped "most"? Both "most famous"?
Could you have dropped "still," objectively?
Yes, we probably could have. What's your point? I'm not arguing in favour of S&W here on this mailing list, and I've explicitly said that I don't even like their rules.
But having a set of rules as (1) guidance for those who need guidance, especially those who have difficulty telling what is *clear and understandable to others*, and (2) for use in disputes, is not a bad thing.
-- Steven _______________________________________________ Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-leave@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ Message archived at https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/EN2RMK... Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/