Re: RE: RE: Auto Fill Comments

[Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>]

* Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com> [2020-11-27 05:22]:
> > Sent: Friday, November 27, 2020 at 2:57 AM
> > From: "arthur miller" <arthur.miller@live.com>
> > To: "Christopher Dimech" <dimech@gmx.com>, "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com>
> > Cc: "help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org" <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> > Subject: RE: RE: Auto Fill Comments
> >
> > Yes, Emacs terminology is old.

It may be old but not obsolete. You may be younger than Emacs and you
encounter things that were already there before you, but need not be
obsolete.

> I dislike killing stuff, reminds me > of war, I never heard word
> yank before I start using and font > locking sounds like I am in a
> prison. But if you can go past few > names, Emacs is quite useful
> piece of software. Probably the most > advanced terminal emulator I
> have ever used, and it even has a > text editor built in.

Words cannot and should not be chosen in the manner not to affect each
person. There is subset of words we name vulgar or obscene and they
are such because people agree to be so and that such should not be
used. Yet there is literature where such words are appropriate on the
right place.

One reader can despise word A, other word B, other word C, other word
D, and then in the end, if one should follow that principle then
better not write at all! There is no logic in trying to accommodate
every person's traumatic experiences.

What does make sense to help in understanding is using dictionaries
and finding definitions.

Here I just pulled the definition of the noun "kill" and verb "kill"
from the Wordnet dictionary:

The noun does not apply in the Emacs context as it is not verb. But
even the noun here shows that "killing" may be used in the sense of
very large profit. See:
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/make+a+killing

The word in itself is harmless. Trauma that person associates with the
word is what hurts the person. To lessen that effect it is advisable
to find the true meanings of the words used and in which context as
that way one will not use the imaginative meanings or wrong meanings
that stem from person's mind.

* Overview of noun killing

The noun killing has 3 senses (first 2 from tagged texts)
1. (5) killing, violent death -- (an event that causes someone to die)
2. (5) killing, kill, putting to death -- (the act of terminating a life)
3. killing, cleanup -- (a very large profit)

Not even English speaking people will know that the verb "kill" has
this many senses. One can see that definition number 12 applies here:

12. kill, obliterate, wipe out -- (mark for deletion, rub off, or
erase; "kill these lines in the President's speech")

Thus the verb "to kill" is part of English language. If person is not
English speaker or does not find proper definitions of course that
most used definition will be used. If you find yourself having
troubles or you find something not logical, please open up dictionary
and look up definitions.

One can see in the below examples that there are other valid uses of
the word "kill" in various senses.

* Overview of verb kill

The verb kill has 15 senses (first 3 from tagged texts)
1. (103) kill -- (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly; "This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank"; "The farmer killed a pig for the holidays")
2. (1) kill, shoot down, defeat, vote down, vote out -- (thwart the passage of; "kill a motion"; "he shot down the student's proposal")
3. (1) stamp out, kill -- (end or extinguish by forceful means; "Stamp out poverty!")
4. kill -- (be fatal; "cigarettes kill"; "drunken driving kills")
5. kill -- (be the source of great pain for; "These new shoes are killing me!")
6. kill -- (overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration; "The comedian was so funny, he was killing me!")
7. kill -- (hit with so much force as to make a return impossible, in racket games; "She killed the ball")
8. kill -- (hit with great force; "He killed the ball")
9. kill -- (deprive of life; "AIDS has killed thousands in Africa")
10. kill -- (cause the death of, without intention; "She was killed in the collision of three cars")
11. toss off, pop, bolt down, belt down, pour down, down, drink down, kill -- (drink down entirely; "He downed three martinis before dinner"; "She killed a bottle of brandy that night"; "They popped a few beer after work")
12. kill, obliterate, wipe out -- (mark for deletion, rub off, or erase; "kill these lines in the President's speech")
13. kill -- (tire out completely; "The daily stress of her work is killing her")
14. kill -- (cause to cease operating; "kill the engine")
15. kill -- (destroy a vitally essential quality of or in; "Eating artichokes kills the taste of all other foods")