[duxuser] Re: the new uses of the slash
- From: Catherine Thomas <braille@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 19:11:09 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, David,
Your message was informative and I'm glad that as versions of DBT
progress, some of these small inaccuracies are being dealt with. Next time
you feel like experimenting, try "primenet" and "usenet" and let us know
how those work out.
I think you may have missed two of the main points of my soapbox. 1. Not
all readers of braille are reading at the same level--e.g., a fairly young
child or an adult new to braile. Some of the combinations reaulting from
using correct braille are not easily recognized. A proficient braille
reader might have to do a double-take (or double-read). A not so efficient
braille reader might in fact be lost;by some of these pointless uses of
contractions. "Can" was meant to stand for the word can as in ability, not
for the metal container which is actually not the same word when you think
about it.
2. As electronics control more and more of what is produced in braille,
what we read and what passes for correct is going to have less to do with
that Philidelphia lawwbook of braille rules and more to do with what the
electronics dictate.
In the days before alphaspeak, the arbitrariness of the two-cell
contractions used to stand for whole words didn't matter much. Who would
know that ac would stand for air conditioning or alternating currant (or
even Atlantic City)? Who would know that common speech would include the
word cd or that tm would appear everywhere as the trademark symbol. Letter
signs in braille used to indicate that letters were being used. Now they
indicate that the next set of characters coming up is an obsolete grade
two abbreviation.
Catherine
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Catherine Thomas
braille@xxxxxxxxx /
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