Posted on 01/12/2013 3:39:35 PM PST by re_nortex
I typically spend 94.37% of my computing time in the Solaris or Linux environments but today was one of those occasions when I ventured outside my comfort zone, launching into Windows 8 for a brief while. A series of updates were available and upon the recommended reboot, I was greeted with this message:
Windows Update: Do not turn off your computer.
Of course, the Unix platforms have never been noted for the precision of their error and informational messages (the notorious "not a typewriter" as a catchall for an invalid ioctl). Yet the syntax of the Microsoft message struck me as a bit odd, almost a bit like Pittsburghese. I would think a more apt phrasing would be Do not turn your computer off as a cautionary message while the updates were being applied.
Perhaps nonsense up with which Microsoft would not put?
Well, Microsoft wanted to impact you proactively, otherwise, the company could care less!
I saw nothing wrong with the grammar but then again, I’m a Pittsburgher. B-D
(shrug) for several years here in Pennsylvania we had automobile license plates that proudly proclaimed, “You’ve Got a Friend In Pennsylvania”.
Indgrish!
A preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with!!
Ballmer and crew should of leveraged a synergistic strategy as they right-sized the staff in Bangalore responsible for crafting the textual strings. At the end of the day...
Perhaps they did.
(I still remember the "IN" in "FLAMMABLE" before it had to be dumbed down.)
Because “turn” and “off” have to be together. “Turn your computer off” is incorrect. “Turn off your computer” is correct. Learn English.
I use Microsoft’s (Win 7) own password protected screen saver. When I return and press the ANY key or the mouse, I first see the message “Locking your computer” for 5 seconds before the password prompt appears.
I just checked this variant of linux.
Yep. "Printer on fire" is still a valid error message for an unknown printer error.
/johnny
I understand your point about grammar, but on another note I learned through bitter experience that if you do turn off your computer when you get that message, it’s format the hard drive and reinstall windows from scratch time.
Could you explain what's wrong with the MS phrase?
But a true mid-state PA Dutchie would say, “Don’t be making with the computer turning off now. Dontcha ya know”.
There. Fixed it.
/johnny
I think one can argue that “turn on” and “turn off” are familiar phrases, used of radios, TVs, computers, and most other electronic gadgets. Or, for that matter, before radios came on the scene, there was the phrase, “Turn off the lights.”
So, “Do not turn off your computer” seems correct to me.
Grammar nazi’s sucketh
According to FReeper Cruising Speed, I'm wrong and Microsoft's syntax is correct. Apologies to all for the thread.
We have really devolved. In VMS (later OpenVMS, which change didn’t help much) messages have the following format:
%facility-s-identification, text
Example:
-RMS-E-FNF, file not found
-SYSTEM-W-NOSUCHFILE, no such file
Facility is an OS component, in this case the file system.
s is severity, in this case Warning.
identification is the message id.
You can capture (trap) the $STATUS in your script as a unique hex number and process it accordingly without failing the script. You can also get further help on the message.
All this was possible in the early 1980s.
More detail here: http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/73final/documentation/pdf/ovms_73_sys_mes.pdf
Growing up a Gospel music fan, the Carter Family's classic Turn Your Radio On, performed here by Mark Lowry and the Gaithers, perhaps should have been titled as "Turn On Your Radio".
OK then, so is it “off to the races!” or “to the races off!”?
"< *do >" "do" < * > < SVO > < SVOO > < SV > V IMP VFIN @+FAUXV
"" "not" NEG-PART @NEG
"< turn >" "turn" < SVOC/A > < SVC/A > < out/SVC/N >
< out/SVC/A > < SVO > < SV > V INF @-FMAINV
"< off >" "off" ADV ADVL @ADVL
"off" PREP @ADVL
"< your >" "you" PRON PERS GEN SG2/PL2 @GN>
"< computer >" "computer" < DER:er > N NOM SG @
"<$.>"
WRTHOMBLK, I/O error rewriting home block
I moved here (NW PA) 2 years ago and the biggest grammar thing I always cringe at is the locals omitting “to be” from what they are saying.
example:
“The knippling pin on your car is shot and needs fixed”.
and many others.
But at least you could always find the meanings in the orange books.
“You turn me on, I’m a radio...”
That way when you contact the tech support guy in India, and read the message, he’d understand.
I always dual-boot. SQL Server doesn’t work in Linux, and that’s what I have to use for work.
There is a mistaken belief among some grammarians that English is Latin. It is not. In Germanic languages, the verb-form modifier must appear at the end of the sentence, in Latin languages it is forbidden. English is neither, and both forms are considered acceptable.
"Just between you and me" is another favorite. You will have people challenge you to a death match over this one. "It's 'just between you and I!'" No, it's not. There actually is no correct form in English, because the me/I can be taken as either a subject or an object.
Dangling prepositions are also not forbidden in English. The claim that they are has always been dubious at best.
Increasingly, grammarians are also yielding to the linguists, who for years have been saying that there is no required use of "whom" in English, because English does not in fact have an objective case. It is omitted by all but the most careful speakers now, except in cases where usage makes it sound weird (as in "to whom do you refer?")
I've always chuckled at "You don't exist, go away" when a user doesn't have an entry in /etc/passwd or some similar form of authentication. And there's always this classic when the value of errno isn't handled properly.
Failed to open file, error: Success.
You are correct. Ending on the words make a difference in German. Word order makes a difference in Welsh. In English? You can pretty well figure out the mouse wasn't chasing the cat.
/johnny
And even here, 200+ miles away, I hear "needs rebuilt", which bugs me even more.
I have recently seen people use "sale" as a verb, mostly on Craigslist, instead of sell, which really drives me up the wall.
"We will sale the Jeep today only. Last chance".
The Apollo Color display? I could do without that. ;)
On this system
cat /etc/termcap | wc
Comes back with 20664 27606 969976
Lots 'o cruft.
Got an RS-232 breakout box?
/johnny
Red up your room!
Red your room up!
lol I meant 2,000+ miles away (PNW).
Ruh roh. We have a winner in the UUOC in this thread! :-) Just joshing of course since I often do things like:
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i bogomipsSee the Useless Use of Cat Award form letter and other hits on UUOC for a chuckle or two.
/johnny
No, “do not turn off your computer” is correct.
I'm the same, Solaris and linux. Don't mess with Windows much anymore outside my son's lappys with Win7 and what work requires (which is server side only).
Pingin' another techie..
/johnny
So, the consensus appears to be that when you yell at your kids: “TURN IT OFF!”, you are abusing Queens English, because the correct yell is: “TURN OFF IT!” ?
Protocols do change with time. In the old KJV Bible, a sentence will often end in a semicolon and the next begins with a capital letter, which is something that I do not recall seeing now.
Also, if you are one of those grammar experts, it is most correct (at least in America) to place a reference within the comma or period (Jn. 3:16) or after it? I usually do the latter.
Thanks.
I use it with joy, Bill Joy that is. :-)
Actually I'll admit that I stray a bit from the pure Solaris approach since I do taint my system with the tools and utilities from OpenCSW. One of my colleagues is appalled that I use bash as my working shell instead of using the classic /bin/sh as mandated from the beginning of time (or at least the epoch) by Stephen Bourne.
Semi-computer geek, don’t think I’m going to bookmark this one :)
Our former president Andy Jackson is reputed to have said "It's a damn small mind that can only think of one way to spell a word".
/johnny
As I mentioned a few weeks back, you are one of the must-read posters here on FR. And I tend to ramble whereas you express things so aptly with an economy of words. And, thanks much for the ping to the other thread concerning grammar.
Grammar teachers never revolutionize the world.
Old sticks in the mud.
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