If it makes you feel better, you can of course describe your verbiage any
way you want. Personally, I wouldn't be proud of being in a flamewar on
c.l.py.
is-it-time-to-start-talking-about-the-good-old-friendly-days-yet'ly y'rs
-- bjorn
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Martelli [mailto:aleaxit at yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 1:57 PM
To: python-list at python.org
Subject: Re: If you want X, you know where to find it (was Re:
do...until wisdom needed...)
"Ben Wolfson" <wolfson at uchicago.edu> wrote in message
news:D0FD6.497$E4.19042 at uchinews...
> In article <9bmgid081b at news1.newsguy.com>, "Alex Martelli"
> <aleaxit at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > I dispute my flames are _abusive_ -- I can quote a dozen outright
> > insults you spewed out to people who dared disagree with you, while my
> > formal politeness never wavered. The hostile tone, of course, has more
> > to do with the insults that keep fanning the flames, although the
> > disagreements would be just as large if we were the closest of friends.
>
> Surely a man of your intelligence, Alex, knows that outright insults are
> not the only way to be abusive?
"Abusive", like most words, has many nuances of meaning, and I don't
doubt one could construct a chain leading to the conclusion that _any_
expression of hostility is "abuse". Like any dilution of a word's
denotations,
such dilution would be one more sad loss for the richness, precision, and
clarity of language, and I prefer to uphold them. "Invective", sure; that
is what a (well-constructed) flamewar is. Merriam-Webster clarifies
usage by noting that "invective" "suggests greater verbal and rhetorical
skill and may apply to a public denunciation", while "abuse" "stresses
the harshness of the language" -- seems a well-drawn explanation to me.
"Abusive", of course (apart from a primary meaning having to do with
improper, especially _corrupt_, practices) is, still according to Merriam-
Webster, primarily "using harsh insulting language" and secondarily
"characterized by or serving for abuse" -- particularly given the above
distinction between abuse and invective, I claim a well-crafted, if
vehement, "public denunciation" expressing hostility without 'harsh
insulting language' is invective rather than abusive ('invective' is
both adjective and noun, of course).
Alex
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