() Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
() Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:37:19 -0400

   phrases as computer or Emacs jargon, when they just have the meaning
   the words imply.

Assuming that one can parse "set bit" as ADJ N, there is still room for
confusion.  Being around computers for a long time, i interpret "set" as
"having value 1", but recognize anyway that such is not universal.

For example, in the phrase "ready, set, go", the state "set" gives the
impression of suspense, promise, potential.  The poet in me imagines how
zero embodies that, mapping these states to -1, 0, and 1, respectively.

"But ttn, we're talking about Emacs Lisp and specifically binary data!"

Yes.  No one is born programmer or poet, yet both can hack (in) Emacs.
What is confusion but a stretching of the mind?  What is Emacs but
confusion, parenthesized and shared?

-- 
Thien-Thi Nguyen
GPG key: 4C807502