[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Sean Kelly]

== Quote from BCS (ao at pathlink.com)'s article
> Reply to Chris,
> > Yigal Chripun wrote:
> >
> >> PS - you should read about the Sapir conjecture in wikipedia to see
> >> how culture and language influence the way we think.
> >>
> > Sapir-Whorf is not well thought of these days. People invent terms for
> > things as necessary, and grammar is generally too primitive to convey
> > significant biases. (Which is fine; grammar is supposed to be
> > primitive.)
> >
> > It's possible that our brains have advanced beyond the capacity of our
> > current languages and that they are restricting us somehow, but if so,
> > it's almost certainly an issue common to all humans and all languages.
> > But given that languages have emerged spontaneously just about every
> > time a group of humans got together without an existing language, I'm
> > strongly inclined to say that any limitations we experience are due to
> > our brains rather than our languages.
> >
> I didn't read it in detail but the 100,000 foot overview seem to have merit
> to me. I known for instance that languages group concepts differently, in
> English a device for telling time and a device for displaying some mesured
> value are different concepts. In finish IIRC they are the same concept (or
> at least for the kind that are round with rotating hands). I once ran across
> a sign that had a picture of a pistol and said "no guns" and no "luger or
> revolvers" only, the first was in English but last was in Spanish. This leads
> me to assume that there the word pistol doesn't translate exactly into Spanish.
> What language you speak has, I'm sure, an effect on what comes to mind when
> a given word is used.

Certainly.  But I don't agree that language constrains the ability to conceive of
something--only to communicate it.  That wiki entry is poorly written anyway.
Who ever suggested that languages can perfectly represent the world?  The
writer obviously needs to learn a bit about Semiotics.


Sean