On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 10:50:32AM -0800, Shawn Burns wrote:
> Shawn (commenting on how easy communication is in English even if used
> poorly): "What is a 'ubiquitous' mean?"
>
> Def #1: "Nifty" (this may have been a joke)
> Def #2: "Easily Corruptible"
> Def #3: "Widespread"
> Def #4: "It means that everybody knows what the words mean"
>
> I got kicked in the head by how truly difficult (and possibly
> non-ubiquitous) the English language is. Perhaps the words themselves are
> ubiquitous (although this is a matter of degree), but definitions are
> resistant to dissemination. And they are malleable. And there's nothing
> wrong with that. I'm going to use "ubiquitous" as "nifty" from now on.
Or it could be that all four responses were jokes. Only #3 and #4 come
even vaguely close to what it actually means, and I'm pretty sure #4 was
a joke.
--
We were discussing how much illumination the various blinking lights
in the computer room emit:
He: It just keeps getting brighter in there.
Me: If only we did, too.