[duxuser] Re: request for opinions
- From: "Foxworth, Ann" <Ann.Foxworth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:36:35 -0600
One might even say that the sighted people who write with as w/ are
using a form of contracted print. I have to smile when I think of the
preposterous idea that while they are contracting the word with, we are
expected to uncontract the word with, so our code matches their code.
This is my last comment on this, but it is fun to think about and talk
about these ideas.
ANN FOXWORTH, BRAILLE CONSULTANT
MAIL CODE: 6804
DARS DIVISION FOR BLIND SERVICES
CRISS COLE REHABILITATION CENTER
4800 N. LAMAR BLVD
AUSTIN, TX 78756
PH: 512-377-0471
-----Original Message-----
From: duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Steve Dresser
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:15 PM
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxuser] Re: request for opinions
Bruce,
The concept of language is irrelevant. We're talking about
contractions,
very few of which have anything to do with what a sighted person sees on
the
printed page. For example, "td", "tm", and "tgr" have nothing to do
with
the words "today", "tomorrow", and "together", but we use them anyway.
I'll
grant you that those contractions and others like them have caused some
confusion for braille readers, but if we didn't use contractions braille
would be far more bulky than it already is. My problem with "w/" is
that it
takes up more space for no particularly good reason. I guess if I were
working for the Library of Congress and was told not to change that
word,
I'd leave it alone, but I'm under no such constraints, so it will be
changed
in any menu I produce. As I said, this debate has been around as long
as
we've had braille contractions, and I don't think we'll end it here.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Toews" <Bruce@xxxxxxxx>
To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 15:02
Subject: [duxuser] Re: request for opinions
>
>
> If braille were a language and dots 23456 represented the word with I
> might agree with you. However, braille is not a language, and
dots23456
> represent the letters w, i, t, h.
> If we start writing our own rules on how to braille things based on
our
> personal preferences, then a blind person sitting in a restaurant is
not
> able to confidently go from restaurant to restaurant with braille
menus
> and know what to expect. A father goes into a restaurant with his
child.
> The child says "What does the w with the line after it mean?" But the
> braillist has taken it upon him- or herself to interpret the menu
beyond
> what is written, so Daddy doesn't see any w with a line after it, and
> is thus clueless.
>
> Bruce
>
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:52:35 -0500, "Steve Dresser"
> <s.dresser@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:
>>
>>
>> Bruce,
>>
>> Without getting into the merits of the BANA rules, "w/" does, in my
>> opinion,
>> detract in that its use is less efficient than the contraction we
already
>> have. Although I know what it means now, it certainly wasn't obvious
to
>> me
>> when I first saw it. I suspect we could argue about this until the
end
>> of
>> time without resolving anything.
>>
> --
> Bruce Toews
> dogriver@xxxxxxxx
>
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