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"Do not turn off your computer" [Grammar Vanity]
1-12-2013 | re_nortex

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.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: grammar; microsoft
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To: re_nortex

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


21 posted on 01/12/2013 4:09:18 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Cicero
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.”

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".

22 posted on 01/12/2013 4:12:26 PM PST by re_nortex (DP...that's what I like about Texas.)
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To: Cruising Speed

OK then, so is it “off to the races!” or “to the races off!”?


23 posted on 01/12/2013 4:17:08 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: re_nortex
"Do not turn off your computer."

"< *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 @

"<$.>"

24 posted on 01/12/2013 4:20:24 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: Revolting cat!
I still have nightmares about

WRTHOMBLK, I/O error rewriting home block

25 posted on 01/12/2013 4:24:58 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: Nowhere Man

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”.


26 posted on 01/12/2013 4:26:03 PM PST by Rodamala
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To: steve86

and many others.

But at least you could always find the meanings in the orange books.


27 posted on 01/12/2013 4:26:37 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: re_nortex

“You turn me on, I’m a radio...”


28 posted on 01/12/2013 4:28:02 PM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: 9YearLurker

That way when you contact the tech support guy in India, and read the message, he’d understand.


29 posted on 01/12/2013 4:29:58 PM PST by dhs12345
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To: JRandomFreeper

I always dual-boot. SQL Server doesn’t work in Linux, and that’s what I have to use for work.


30 posted on 01/12/2013 4:30:26 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (TYRANNY: When the people fear the politicians. LIBERTY: When the politicians fear the people.)
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To: re_nortex
Neither of you is correct, neither is mistaken.

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?")

31 posted on 01/12/2013 4:31:37 PM PST by FredZarguna (In a well-regulated FReeper den, the right to create and deploy antimatter shall not be infringed.)
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To: JRandomFreeper
"Printer on fire" is still a valid error message for an unknown printer error.

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.

32 posted on 01/12/2013 4:33:17 PM PST by re_nortex (DP...that's what I like about Texas.)
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To: FredZarguna
Besides, trying to control American English grammar is like herding catz. Sort of. ;)

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

33 posted on 01/12/2013 4:37:44 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Rodamala
“The knippling pin on your car is shot and needs fixed”.

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".

34 posted on 01/12/2013 4:43:45 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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To: re_nortex
You have to wonder why we kept some of that in later distros. I wouldn't have a distro that couldn't handle a VT-100 terminal type.

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

35 posted on 01/12/2013 4:45:30 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Rodamala
The eternal question for Yinzers really comes down to which of these forms is correct?

Red up your room!

Red your room up!

36 posted on 01/12/2013 4:47:09 PM PST by re_nortex (DP...that's what I like about Texas.)
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To: steve86

lol I meant 2,000+ miles away (PNW).


37 posted on 01/12/2013 4:47:09 PM PST by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
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nod tudalen
Peidiwch â throi oddi ar eich cyfrifiadur.

38 posted on 01/12/2013 4:50:40 PM PST by moose07 (the truth will out ,one day. The Fiscal cliff has a spectacular view.)
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To: JRandomFreeper
cat /etc/termcap | wc

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 bogomips
See the Useless Use of Cat Award form letter and other hits on UUOC for a chuckle or two.
39 posted on 01/12/2013 4:55:15 PM PST by re_nortex (DP...that's what I like about Texas.)
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To: re_nortex
Yep. And my fingers will continue to do it, even though my brain says "you can just wc /etc/termcap". Things you learn young never leave you.

/johnny

40 posted on 01/12/2013 5:00:20 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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