From jcowan@reutershealth.com Thu Jan 09 03:27:18 2003 Return-Path: X-Sender: jcowan@reutershealth.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_3_0); 9 Jan 2003 11:27:18 -0000 Received: (qmail 11209 invoked from network); 9 Jan 2003 11:27:18 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.216) by m5.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 9 Jan 2003 11:27:18 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mail2.reutershealth.com) (65.246.141.151) by mta1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 9 Jan 2003 11:27:18 -0000 Received: from skunk.reutershealth.com (IDENT:cowan@[10.65.117.21]) by mail2.reutershealth.com (Pro-8.9.3/Pro-8.9.3) with SMTP id GAA15493; Thu, 9 Jan 2003 06:39:28 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <200301091139.GAA15493@mail2.reutershealth.com> Received: by skunk.reutershealth.com (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Thu, 9 Jan 2003 06:28:21 -0500 Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: open and save To: lojbab@lojban.org (Bob LeChevalier) Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 06:28:21 -0500 (EST) Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.0.20030108231606.0347ea00@pop.east.cox.net> from "Bob LeChevalier" at Jan 08, 2003 11:24:53 PM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL6] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: John Cowan X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=8122456 X-Yahoo-Profile: john_w_cowan Bob LeChevalier scripsit: > But in addition there is no obvious passage or > portal which is "open" or "closed" when a file is open or closed - the > metaphor works ONLY if you stick consistently to the drawer metaphor, and > then it doesn't work well (a drawer is probably "out" rather than "open" in > Lojban, a box lid or cupboard door might be "open"). The application of "open" and "close" to files is much older than the GUI. AFAIK, it was first used in computing in COBOL, though I have not been able to discover if OPEN and CLOSE were already in COBOL-60, or were introduced in later versions. But even before that, it was common business jargon to talk of "opening a file on someone", which meant what computerists would call creating it nowadays. In all cases, I think, the relevant metaphor is that of opening a channel or connection between two things that were previously isolated from each other. -- John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com http://www.ccil.org/~cowan http://www.reutershealth.com Thor Heyerdahl recounts his attempt to prove Rudyard Kipling's theory that the mongoose first came to India on a raft from Polynesia. --blurb for _Rikki-Kon-Tiki-Tavi_