"pythonic"

[Alex Martelli]

Afanasiy wrote:

> Too many times now I have seen the term "pythonic" used to vaguely
> describe something which is never explicitly defined, as if it cannot be.
> 
> Now it seems I can just replace "pythonic" with "my idea of utopia".
> 
> I do not know if this ignorance, laziness, or a meme, but I would like
> to know if there a real definition of "pythonic". Anyone?

If you want a thesaurus:

http://www.bartleby.com/62/49/P1214900.html

"""
pythonic

ADJECTIVE:
Of extraordinary size and power: behemoth, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, 
colossal, cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, gargantuan, giant, gigantesque, 
gigantic, herculean, heroic, huge, immense, jumbo, mammoth, massive, massy, 
mastodonic, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, 
prodigious, stupendous, titanic, tremendous, vast. Informal : walloping. 
Slang : whopping. See BIG. 

Roget?s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. Copyright © 1995 by Houghton 
Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights 
reserved.
"""


If you prefer a dictionary:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/25/P0692500.html

"""
ADJECTIVE:
1. Of, relating to, or resembling a python. 2. Of or resembling an oracle; 
prophetic. 3. Of extraordinary size and power. 

   
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton 
Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
"""


Of course, around here we tend to use a nuance of "Of, relating to,
or resembling Python" rather than "a python", and while "extraordinary
power" is surely sometimes part of the connotations, I don't think
the specific connotations towards BIG SIZE, which the thesaurus points
out so well, are normally implied in our discourse.


Alex