[OT] Indian C programmers and "u"

[Richard Heathfield]

I'm not here to win a game of one-upmanship. I think a man who stops
being sensitive to certain issues and fails to stand up for what he
believes is destined to fail eventually.

The issue here is that some people rather annoyingly type "u" instead of
"you". Hardly an earth-shaking moral issue, is it?

After all, what would have
happened if I had gone on without any comments on this issue.

We would all have had slightly more time to discuss C instead of this
ridiculous side-issue. That's what would have happened.

The newer
people who happen to chance by this group would have a wrong opinion of
it. I just wanted to avoid that.

Have you succeeded in that? I don't know. But I /do/ know that you've given
your readers the impression that you are over-sensitive, especially when
the issue is such a trivial one.

 

[Dan Pop]

Oops

The sig delimiter should be DASH-DASH-SPACE-NEWLINE ;-)

As it is, you left the SPACE character out.

Or maybe his posting software is written in C (to insert some topicality
in this thread) ;-)

Dan

 

[Richard Heathfield]

In <[email protected]> Richard Heathfield


Then, how do you explain the relatively high number of off topic posts
emanating from you, that achieve nothing than generating even more off
topic posts from other people, to which you reply another bit of nonsense
and so on?

I don't. Mea culpa, and all that.

Please spare us the hypocrisy.

Please spare me the holier-than-thou attitude. Everyone is hypocritical to
some degree.

 

[Dan Pop]

You're absolutely right, and "u" and its kin fit into all the above
categories as much as IMHO or OTOH. Both are "slangy shorthand".

Both are "slangy shorthand", but they belong to *different* slangs,
only one of them being considered appropriate here.

Dan

 

[Anupam]

Well without getting into politics here I'd just like to say that the west is
not quite comprised of a single nation and so we shouldn't be getting into
this.

I am a "westerner", and I had the pleasure to see a government crumble
because people living in my country didn't want nuclear weapons
installed. So your opinion seems quite prejudiced to me.

Oh and im absolutely sure that there
are absolutely millions of western inventions we could not not do without.
You are getting into who's more technically savvy .. and if that is so it
is obvious that ethnicity has nothing to do with brilliance in any field.
Look at the Noble prizes and you will see a mini-representation of the entire
globe.

It doesn't. Computers would work just fine with '+' and '-' only.


Using "u" instead of "you" makes you look as puerile idiot in the views
of 90% of the readers here, because 90% of Americans and British who use
"u" _are_ idiots. It is used by people who try to be "kewl" and fail
miserably. And since nobody cares where you come from, the conclusion is
that Indian programmers using "u" are just as stupid as Americans using
"u". I recommend to avoid it if you want to be taken seriously here.

Agreed, there is no one who would disagree with this. Absolutely so.
If only it had come across in this manner initially. It was just the way
that it was put up that started this. As a guideline to *all* people using
abbreviations where none are required would have been so much more effective.
As for understanding "you" from "u", that could be carried on ad infintum
and it would be very difficult to have to understand an entirely new
language. I'm absolutely for the minimising of this usage.

 

[Dan Pop]

Please spare me the holier-than-thou attitude. Everyone is hypocritical to
some degree.

Yup, it's just that your degree was above my bearable threshold today:
both silly off topic posts and a complaint about wasted bandwidth in the
same day is too much for me. YMMV.

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

Look at the Noble prizes and you will see a mini-representation of the entire
globe.

Bogus argument: Nobel prizes are often awarded on political grounds.

Dan

 

[Debashish Chakravarty]

I don't see anything wrong with what joona posted about the way 'many'

indians who post to the newsgroup write 'you' as. Joona only said many
people who post here write 'you' as 'u'. Nothing degrading about
indians was said there. I dont understand what made you respond with
your patriotic stuff. I dont see joona's post offending, it's your post
which i feel is odd.


Sudheer Reddy

This is what Joona wrote:
Why is it that *every single* Indian C programmer I have seen on
this newsgroup writes "u" for "you"?

He was surprised that *every single* Indian C programmer uses "u"
instead of "you". I am sure you know the difference between "many" and
*every single*.

 

[Joona I Palaste]

This is what Joona wrote:
Why is it that *every single* Indian C programmer I have seen on
this newsgroup writes "u" for "you"?

He was surprised that *every single* Indian C programmer uses "u"
instead of "you". I am sure you know the difference between "many" and
*every single*.

This is true. I regret what I wrote. I should have written "many".

 

[Richard Heathfield]

In <[email protected]> Richard Heathfield


Yup, it's just that your degree was above my bearable threshold today:

Fair enough.

both silly off topic posts and a complaint about wasted bandwidth in the
same day is too much for me. YMMV.

No, MMDNV. Rather surprisingly, I agree with you 100%.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

This is what Joona wrote:
Why is it that *every single* Indian C programmer I have seen on
this newsgroup writes "u" for "you"?

He was surprised that *every single* Indian C programmer uses "u"
instead of "you".

No, he didn't say that. He said that he was surprised that every single
Indian C programmer he has seen on this newsgroup writes "u" for "you".

I am sure you know the difference between "many" and
*every single*.

I am sure you know the difference between "all" and "all that I have seen in
a particular newsgroup".

Having said that, yes, the original article was very poorly worded. But hey,
the guy said sorry, right? In this newsgroup, a sincere apology
traditionally carries a lot of weight.

 

[Christian Bau]

This is what Joona wrote:
Why is it that *every single* Indian C programmer I have seen on
this newsgroup writes "u" for "you"?

He was surprised that *every single* Indian C programmer uses "u"
instead of "you". I am sure you know the difference between "many" and
*every single*.

And every single Indian C programmer is complaining about it...

This is just normal use of the English language. *every single* means *a
noticably large percentage* in normal use of the language.

"u" when used by native English speakers is an attempt to sound cool and
failing at it. Usually kids whose parents think they are geniuses, and
who get their computers infected by every virus in existence because
they are just too stupid.

 

[Anuj Heer]

First of all please do not live inside a self-imposed bubble of the
ever endearing city life. Who said that money is the be-all and
end-all. Satisfaction is what the poor farmer has.. much beyond what
u and i do. Think about it. A splintered life with all the money and
all the conveniences but no truth. Oh village life is one big peace of
mind. Be there.. then you will understand. Many of the people here and
everywhere get frustrated and done in when they think about where it
is going. What the hell are you doing anyway...Coding for 10 years ...
then becoming a manager. Marrying ..producing kids... and dying at the
age of 60... Living the same live as countless others.. Financial
poverty can enrich.. believe me.
A good programmer.. a really good one.. is in it for other things
besides money.
No one country is the trend setter in anything. No community is good
at programming as a whole... thats . I just wanted to correct a
misconception that someone had. Just look at a people posting on this
group and you will see a veritable cross-section of the world.

Sorry for getting it all mixed up. You seemed to have got me wrong. I
did not mean that. I do not want to hog the limelight as the sole
bastion of trends in world of computer. I realize it that no single
person or comunity can do that in this world. The only problem i have
is that who gives anyone the right to judge me as right or wrong. I
and i alone stand as the sole judge of what i write and how i write
it. If the person i am reffering to understands it then that's all
that matters to me. you mentioned about the BPO industry moving over
to India. To tell you the truth i am currently employed in the same
industry as technical support engineer. And the first thing that my
instructor for voice and accent told me was that 'an accent can never
be wrong, it can be only different'. I believe that the same stands
for all sorts of communication. I also studied linguistics as a part
of my studies for a voice recognition project. I learned there that
the even the english and grammer used by the most illiterate person in
India is not wrong. It even has a name for it 'Indian Standard
English'. All i want to say is if americans can convert 'programme' to
'program' then why can't we use 'u' for you.
anuj
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Mark McIntyre]

There is no requirement that the two
be "*perfectly*" equivalent, merely interchangeable sufficiently
that the intent of the writer be understood by by the reader.

And that they are.

Nope. A question is something you ask. A doubt is something you
disbelieve, mistrust etc.

Clearly you should stick to C.

Pot, meet kettle
.. (And since it is obvious there

 

[Mark McIntyre]

Which is to say, "I have a question about..."

No it doesn't. It means that you are uncertain. I'm sitting here,
uncertain about whether to go to the loo now, or wait five mins. I
have absolutely no questions to ask. I know perfectly well that I need
to go to the loo soon, I know I can do it now or in 5 mins. I just
can't make up my mind.

I have no question that there are people who question that it
is proper English... but I my questions about their vocabulary.

The above doesn't make even vague sense. Try taking english lessons,
it might help you.
gd&r

 

[Mark McIntyre]

D: "How anyone can call Fred handsome at all."

Bzzt. The point is, C is a nonsequitur.
B didn't pose any question, it stated that B didn't believe Fred to be
the most handsome person in the world. He didn't believe it. Not that
he had some questions to ask about whether Fred was or not.

geez.

 

[Mark McIntyre]

I can't speak for everywhere, but in West Coast American
English, that usage will be understood by just about any native
speaker.

Wnich merely goes to show that it is *not* English usage. Come on,
since when has LA defined English?

It may sound odd, but the very reason that speakers of other
Englishes are able to work it out, is because it is indeed
*correct* English,

No, its because most people are able to work out what is meant, even
if the english is execrable. "Is this the poem that wrote you?"
"Laughing was I to burst fit". Gibberish, but translatable.

exactly as you have described above. It may
be obscure, it may not be common everywhere, it may sound
odd... it may or not be a lot of things, but it *is* correct.

No its bl**dy well not. Look up the meaning of the noun "doubt". It
does not mean question. Not even in American English dictionaries.

it out, and never blink an eye again. Pretty soon there is,
within a small community, a regular pigeon English dialect
unique to that group.

Doubt used to mean question is a perfect example of this.

 

[Himanshu Singh Chauhan]

Language is way of presenting our thoughts. When you are speaking,
several times you use incorrect English. But then the main aim is to
convey your thoughts. Same is the case here.

The intention is to tell "u" what one thinks. So does that matter in
any ways. So many of us have taken part in this discussion and we all
know what exactly "u" means. This infers that intentions of the writer
were fulfilled. Then why to take a break and think so long about it. I
don't understand.

Discussing good points about C is better than thinking about why "u"
instead of "you".

Regards

Digital

 

[Dik T. Winter]

> Language is way of presenting our thoughts. When you are speaking,
> several times you use incorrect English. But then the main aim is to
> convey your thoughts. Same is the case here.

No, it is not the same. In speech there is not a problem, it is only
when transformed to script. Moreover, incorrect spelling detracts.

> The intention is to tell "u" what one thinks. So does that matter in
> any ways.

Yup. As somebody with English as his third language, I can tell you that
the misspelling of "you" by "u" distracts me from the meaning of the
message. (This is also true for the common American misspelling of
"weird" as "wierd".) Such misspellings hinder my reading of messages.
When I see such, I have to read back, and try to pronounce it to see
what the meaning is. I have much less problems reading a ungrammatical
sentence when it is correctly spelled. And occasional misspellings also
are not seen. It is nearly only when the misspelling is due to "audial"
similarities that I have to trace back.

 

[Floyd Davidson]

Bzzt. The point is, C is a nonsequitur.
B didn't pose any question, it stated that B didn't believe Fred to be
the most handsome person in the world. He didn't believe it. Not that
he had some questions to ask about whether Fred was or not.

geez.

What is your first language Mark? You do very good at
English for somebody who isn't a native speaker...