How The Game Is Played

Irascible old programmer rant 1: The rape of the english language

Okay,

I promised that this blog would be one third gamer journal. So far I've fulfilled that with my notes on Matrix Online.

I promised it would be 1/3 developer journal. I've sort of done that with my notes on moving to linux. Heavier stuff will follow as I get out of my doc writing phase and back into actual development.

And I promised it would be 1/3 irascible old programmer rants. So here is a rant. Actually its an irascible old writer rant but I'm a many facted ranter!

Wittgenstein said "meaning is use" but for words to have any meaning what so ever, that use must be reasonably standardized. Otherwise we are just grunting empty sounds at each other with less meaning then a chimpanzee's hoots-- those at least have a common meaning set.

Thats why the dictionary was invented and it used to be that no intelligent person would write anything without one by their side. My parents, professional writers for 40 years, still consider it a primary tool of their trade and have one at each desk.

In today's America however, it has become common practice to argue your political purpose by redefining words to mean what you want them to. There are many great examples. The classic, and the folks who IMHO probably started it all, are the anti-abortion movement.

Now I am not going to start a fight over that political point here. This is not a political blog, this is a blog about being intelligent and educated users of the English langauge. Thsoe folks however discovered a brilliant, if twisted, poltiical technique that I AM writing about. It is a movement against something. they don't believe in abortion. The believe it is murder and fundamentally wrong. Thats fine. What they discovered though is that people react negatively to the word "anti". Its a word with negative connotations. So they redefined themselves as "pro-=life."

I'm sorry, thats nonsense. Brilliant, highly effective nonsense. They aren't mobilizing to create life. By their own arguments, they are against something-- against what they see as murder. That is the point of their mission. Nor are the pro-abortion folks against life, They are just against having their choice to abort or not taken away. None of this changed when the anti-abortion movement changed the language HOWEVER they suddenly found themselves a lot more popular, even though the label they chose was less accurate.

Others have learned from this example. One of my personal favorites is the "open source movement." To quote another recent blog which will remain nameless:

"is it o.k. to implement OpenOffice.org features using the Java technology considering that Java is not fully open source in the pure sense"

What an interesting statement. What is Open Source in the purest sense ? The purest sense of English, as I already mentioned, is contained in the dictionary. Lets have a look:

According to Webster's online dictionary ( http://www.m-w.com ):

Main Entry: source
Pronunciation: 'sOrs, 'sors
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English sours, from Middle French sors, sourse, from Old French, from past participle of sourdre to rise, spring forth, from Latin surgere -- more at SURGE
1 a : a generative force : CAUSE b (1) : a point of origin or procurement : BEGINNING (2) : one that initiates : AUTHOR; also : PROTOTYPE, MODEL (3) : one that supplies information
2 a : the point of origin of a stream of water : FOUNTAINHEAD b archaic : SPRING, FOUNT
3 : a firsthand document or primary reference work
4 : an electrode in a field-effect transistor that supplies the charge carriers for current flow -- compare DRAIN, GATE
synonym see ORIGIN

This is somewhat confusing until we recall that "source" in this case is a shortened version of "source code." Code is defined as follows:

Main Entry: 1code
Pronunciation: 'kOd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin caudex, codex trunk of a tree, document formed originally from wooden tablets
1 : a systematic statement of a body of law; especially : one given statutory force
2 : a system of principles or rules
3 a : a system of signals or symbols for communication b : a system of symbols (as letters or numbers) used to represent assigned and often secret meanings
4 : GENETIC CODE
5 : a set of instructions for a computer

Aha! Now it makes sense. Reliable, english sense. Source = origin. Code = set of instructions for a computer. "Source code" == the original set of instructions for the computer.

Lets try "open":

Main Entry: open
Pronunciation: 'O-p&n, -p&m
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): open·er /'Op-n&r, 'O-p&-/; open·est /'Op-n&st, 'O-p&-/
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German offan open, Old English up up
1 : having no enclosing or confining barrier : accessible on all or nearly all sides
2 a (1) : being in a position or adjustment to permit passage : not shut or locked (2) : having a barrier (as a door) so adjusted as to allow passage b : having the lips parted c : not buttoned or zipped
3 a : completely free from concealment : exposed to general view or knowledge b : exposed or vulnerable to attack or question : SUBJECT
4 a : not covered with a top, roof, or lid b : having no protective covering
5 : not restricted to a particular group or category of participants : as a : enterable by both amateur and professional contestants b : enterable by a registered voter regardless of political affiliation
6 : fit to be traveled over : presenting no obstacle to passage or view
7 : having the parts or surfaces laid out in an expanded position : spread out : UNFOLDED
8 a (1) : LOW 13 (2) : formed with the tongue in a lower position b (1) : having clarity and resonance unimpaired by undue tension or constriction of the throat (2) of a tone : produced by an open string or on a wind instrument by the lip without the use of slides, valves, or keys
9 a : available to follow or make use of b : not taken up with duties or engagements c : not finally decided : subject to further consideration d : available for a qualified applicant : VACANT e : remaining available for use or filling until canceled f : available for future purchase
10 a : characterized by ready accessibility and usually generous attitude: as (1) : generous in giving (2) : willing to hear and consider or to accept and deal with : RESPONSIVE (3) : free from reserve or pretense : FRANK b : accessible to the influx of new factors (as foreign goods)
11 a : having openings, interruptions, or spaces : as (1) : being porous and friable (2) : sparsely distributed : SCATTERED (3) of a compound : having components separated by a space in writing or printing (as opaque projector) b : not made up of a continuous closed circuit of channels
12 a of an organ pipe : not stopped at the top b of a string on a musical instrument : not stopped by the finger
13 : being in operation ; especially : ready for business, patronage, or use to="to" _5="_5">
14 a (1) : characterized by lack of effective regulation of various commercial enterprises (2) : not repressed by legal controls b : free from checking or hampering restraints c : relatively unguarded by opponents
15 : having been opened by a first ante, bet, or bid
16 of punctuation : characterized by sparing use especially of the comma
17 a : containing none of its endpoints b : being a set or composed of sets each point of which has a neighborhood all of whose points are contained in the set
18 a : being an incomplete electrical circuit b : not allowing the flow of electricity synonym see FRANK, LIABLE
- open adverb
- open·ly /'O-p&n-lE/ adverb
- open·ness /-p&(n)-n&s/ noun

Wow, now thats a big one. Lots there. Most of which doesn't make much sense at all. It could mean definition 1, "accessible on all sides" but if we read further we see that this is aphyscial definition (an open field) and is really a stretch to naythign non-physical. It could mean definiton 12, not stopped by a finger, but thats even less likely. It could simply mean "ready for use" as per definition 13.

What I DON'T see anywhere is a definition that says "free of charge for any and all use" or "not covered by copyrights."

Yet this is EXACTLY what the other blogger meant. If thats not English then why did he say it? Because the term "open source" used to have an English meaning. It meant open as an open-book, definition 7. In other words readable source. Thsi is a term however that has been misused and abused for political purposes. The word "socialism" has negative connotations to americns while "open" sounds so much better to an American ear. But that's what the "open software movement" is-- a socialist software movement. A movement that wants to see software (all intellectual property, actually) moved to shared common property of the entire society.

Now again, I'm not going to try to comment on the politics here. Frankly I'm not ashamed to admit that there are a lot of things I personally admire in truly socialist societies. But hiding behind words stripped of their meaning and redefined is the argument of manipulative cowards afraid that they cannot defend what theyre ally mean in real English.

And I am way past sick of it.

In the purest sense open source software means that the source is readable. Thats it. And its high time we reminded the world of that. In the purest sense, Java is open source today. The source can be dowbloaded and read relatively freely. Its only in the corrupted sense, of truly socialist software development, that it is not.

Posted at 03:50PM Mar 29, 2005 by gameguy in General  |  Comments[11]