New to Python: Features

Richard Blackwood richardblackwood at cloudthunder.com
Thu Oct 7 00:07:00 EDT 2004


Bengt Richter wrote:

>On Wed, 06 Oct 2004 09:29:07 +0100, Richie Hindle <richie at entrian.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>[Richard]
>>    
>>
>>>I could care less honestly.
>>>      
>>>
>>[Grant]
>>    
>>
>>>I've always been curious about that phrase.  It seems to imply
>>>that you _do_ care, since it would be possible for you to care
>>>less than you do.  Shouldn't the expression be "I couldn't care
>>>less"?
>>>      
>>>
>>In the UK we say "I couldn't care less".
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Perhaps Richard was proposing the notion that he could care differently.
>(i.e., less honestly ;-)
>(Otherwise, IMO, there should have been a comma after his "less.")
>
>  
>
>>One theory is that in the US it has become the sarcastic opposite of
>>itself, as in "tell me about it" or "I should be so lucky".
>>
>>Another theory is that it's been mangled through overuse - the
>>individual syllables ceased to matter a long time ago, and the "n't" was
>>lost because of sloppy speech.
>>
>>As revealed by PSU Research Paper "UU788", the *real* reason is a side
>>effect of the nanovirus encroaching into non-whitespace, as first
>>proposed by "UU355" and then earlier proven (twice, as it turned out) by
>>"UU6 9".  The only defence is t*^$Z:%Z* NO CARRIER
>>
>>    
>>
>My linguistic feature-clustering/distribution detector signals significant
>probability of non-English-first-language when scanning Richard's prose.
>Possible origin: planet U^g%%
>
>Regards,
>Bengt Richter
>  
>
Trying to figure out which language was my first is like trying to bake 
a vegan chicken dish--- there are only so many vegans so I doubt you 
will be able to find a recipe that will serve you right. 



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