Ten rules to becoming a Python community member.

[rantingrick]

On Aug 16, 6:25 pm, John Gordon <gor... at panix.com> wrote:
> In <d577aa97-84f1-48ac-91fd-4355059ca... at f7g2000vba.googlegroups.com> rantingrick <rantingr... at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >  ORIGINAL1: "I used to wear wooden shoes"
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > CONCISE_1a: "I wore wooden shoes"
>
> "wore" does not convey the same meaning as "used to wear."
>
> "wore" means you have worn them in the past.
>
> "used to wear" means you have worn them in the past AND don't intend
> to do so again.

Actually that assertion is wrong.

Take (in the extreme example) that you were (in the past) forced to
wear a tutu. You did not like wearing the tutu but someone put a gun
to your head, so you did it. Now. If later someone asks you "Have you
ever been forced to wear anything you did not like?" and you replied
"Yes, i wore a tutu [once]", there is no way anyone could extrapolate
from that statement whether or not you would NEVER wear a tutu again.

So the moral is: Just because something happened in the past does not
mean it will happen in the future. The fact remains that "wore" and
"used to wear" both compile down to the same "past tense" event
HOWEVER neither have the capacity to predict future events.

No one can predict the future. Not even YOU can predict whether or not
you will wear a tutu again. You may say you would "never" wear a tutu
again however you can NEVER be sure about that statement without a
time machine, and lots of free time.