[Cfp-interest 3244] Re: English clauses in the standard

[Damian McGuckin]

On Thu, 22 Aug 2024, Mike Cowlishaw wrote:

>> There are places that sentences are
>>
>>  	Unless specified otherwise (1)
>>
>>  	Unless otherwise noted (1)
>>
>>  	Unless otherwise specified (6)
>>
>>  	Except as noted (1)
>>
>>  	Except as stated (3)
>>
>>  	[Unless|except] explicitly [specified|stated] otherwise (22)
>>
>> Why so many twists?

When I reread this email which was sent in haste, I apologise for the kurt 
and impolite way I phrased it. Editors' efforts ares too often thankless 
and the work must send some/many down the road to distraction (at least).

I am reading two chunks which at their heart are identical. And when I see 
two nearly identifical sentences or paragraphs with subtle variations, I 
always wonder how identical they really are. Am I imagining they are the 
same in meaning (to save myself work) or is there a reason for the subtle 
difference.? Have I missed a key difference?  Indeed, sometimes there is a 
difference when one case is for a real number and the other for a complex 
number. But most often not.

What I will do is try and rationalise them when they cross my path in 
either Annex F and G and people can correct me if I am wrong (which may
be the case).

A similar case came up with the word 'analog' which appears throughout the 
standard - like many tens of times.

But in one paragraph, the word 'counterpart' is used for the same idea, 
talking about the mathematical counterpart instead of the mathematical 
analog. They are similar enough in meaning that the interloper got very 
quickly replaced with analog.

- Damian