Difference between revisions of "List of fool's errands"

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A collection of things that don't need to happen because that would be a waste of time, both for you and for the eventual reader. Curated by Tantusar.
 
A collection of things that don't need to happen because that would be a waste of time, both for you and for the eventual reader. Curated by Tantusar.
  
== Not everything needs to be defined ==
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== Not everything needs to be defined (explicitly)==
 
''Sub-essay by Tantusar''
 
''Sub-essay by Tantusar''
  

Latest revision as of 23:49, 29 March 2020

A collection of things that don't need to happen because that would be a waste of time, both for you and for the eventual reader. Curated by Tantusar.

Not everything needs to be defined (explicitly)

Sub-essay by Tantusar

English has this really nice feature called the attributive verb, the upshot of which is this: There are words that implicitly exist in the rules in relation to an action that don't need defining unless you want them to mean something else.

For example: If a rule exists that says, “Individuals may Punch a Spaceman on Friday," then it is perfectly reasonable to refer to the Individual who is Punching as the Punching Individual, or to the Spaceman who is Punched as the Punched Spaceman, all with no further definition.

In fact, forget attributive verbs, those are perfectly valid words, period. The rules state, "A keyword defined by a rule supersedes the normal English usage of the word," and, as derivative verbs are... Well... Derivative, defining Punch also defines the verbs (and any adjective forms of) Punching, Punches and Punched, the noun Puncher, and almost certainly a number of other words I haven't thought of. Don't overthink it. It just works.