From owner-cvs-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 7 07:52:02 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: cvs-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C90F637B401; Wed, 7 May 2003 07:52:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from flood.ping.uio.no (flood.ping.uio.no [129.240.78.31]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A2FB043F3F; Wed, 7 May 2003 07:52:00 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from des@ofug.org) Received: by flood.ping.uio.no (Postfix, from userid 2602) id 96D8A530E; Wed, 7 May 2003 16:51:57 +0200 (CEST) X-URL: http://www.ofug.org/~des/ X-Disclaimer: The views expressed in this message do not necessarily coincide with those of any organisation or company with which I am or have been affiliated. To: Doug Barton References: <200305051936.h45JaAc4099544@repoman.freebsd.org> <20030506224205.J5620@znfgre.qbhto.arg> From: Dag-Erling Smorgrav Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 16:51:57 +0200 In-Reply-To: <20030506224205.J5620@znfgre.qbhto.arg> (Doug Barton's message of "Tue, 6 May 2003 22:42:52 -0700 (PDT)") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.1001 (Gnus v5.10.1) Emacs/21.3 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: Hiten Pandya cc: doc-committers@FreeBSD.org cc: cvs-doc@FreeBSD.org cc: cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/disks chapter.sgml X-BeenThere: cvs-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: CVS commit messages for the doc and www trees List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 14:52:03 -0000 Doug Barton writes: > What's the purpose of this change? The words are basically synonyms, and > either is appropriate in context. "moot" has several meanings, and the "irrelevant" meaning is far down the list. Closer to the top you find meanings such as (noun) "meeting" and (verb) "to raise an issue" and (adj) "currently being discussed" which are antonymous to "irrelevant". Etymologically a moot is a formal meeting, the anglosaxon counterpart of the Norse Thing (viz. Tolkien's use of "Entmoot" for a meeting of Ent leaders) and the adjective form means "subject to discussion at a moot". Webster's 7th gives "open to question" and "subjected to discussion" as the primary meanings of the adjective "moot", and "deprived of practical significance" only as a secondary meaning. The fact that you consider "moot" a synonym of "irrelevant" is simply a product of your cultural background, and other people with different cultural backgrounds will not understand what is meant. DES -- Dag-Erling Smorgrav - des@ofug.org