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Re: "obvious" requirements
On 20-May-2003, Andrew Haley <aph@redhat.com> wrote:
> "anal" is not a vulgarity, but a reference to Sigmund Freud's ideas on
> anality, first published in 1908. Freud wrote that people with "anal
> character" were meticulous, parsimonious, and obstinate.
Regardless of the academic history of this particular usage of the term,
it nevertheless has a strongly vulgar connotation, and IMHO should be
avoided in the GCC manual. There are many people who would look for
any excuse to write GCC off as not a serious contender (maintained by
a bunch of part-time amateurs who can't even write a proper manual,
they would like to think) so it is important that the official GCC
documentation be written in a serious tone.
--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au> | "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne | of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh> | -- the last words of T. S. Garp.