> [I]t feels to me that if > you're writing something like: > a / b, c, d > the natural grouping of that syntax is: > (a / b), c, d > whereas in this draft it means: > a / (b, c, d) As a lurker who mostly just likes to follow the discussions here without contributing much of anything, I rarely feel the need to speak up. However, I really, really, really, really agree with the above statement. In both poetry and matrices, slashes are stronger than commas, so I understand the original thinking of using it this way. If the first thought you have is of poetry or matrices, then you are familiar with notating a new line with a slash. Yet in almost every other instance I can think of it is the other way around. Shorthand English uses slashes to represent lack of letters in a word like w/o (without), whereas commas separate words themselves (and are thus higher up in the hierarchy). In urls, slashes are clearly used as higher up than commas (http://whatever.com/1,2,3.html). In pronunciation guides, slashes are internal, whereas commas separate words. When listing alternative names for something, slashes are internal, and commas separate phrases in the sentence it is used. In all of these, commas are used as separators than have slashes in them, and not the other way around. Anyway, back to lurking for me now. Be well, -Eric -- Eric Herboso EricHerboso.com EricHerboso@gmail.com twitter.com/EricHerboso facebook.com/EricHerboso Washington, D.C. +1.202.368.5365 Webmaster Share Our Strength strength.org eherboso@strength.org facebook.com/ShareOurStrength twitter.com/ShareStrength Working to make sure no child ever grows up hungry.
Received on Friday, 21 August 2009 09:19:44 UTC