Post #118,811
9/25/03 10:42:54 AM
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The Anti-PHB
This was an e-mail within our company by a manager taking sole responsibility for the failure to produce an update to a critical business component recently. Quite frankly, I think this kind of e-mail doesn't get sent enough... Names removed to keep this anonymous. Unfortunately, we have decided to postpone the deployment of xxxxx x.0. The reason for this came down to the fact that at this late date we were still identifying bugs within the application, and we did not want to risk deploying a product that we were not confident would function properly for the company.
The Department Heads will be meeting on Friday morning to discuss in which way we want to move forward from here. We are still scheduled to hit the 11/1 deployment date for the next internal version of xxxxx. It is yet to be decided if this will be on the xxxxxx x.5 platform.
I do not consider this project an entire loss. We have learned a lot within the IT Department about xxxxxx, we've restructured our development processes, and we've identified many areas in which we can change the application to better support our company. You will begin to see the effects of this new knowledge in the upcoming releases.
I want to publicly thank xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx (and now xxxxxxx) for their work on this release over the past many months. It has a been a very large challenge. Each one of them did a great job in dealing with the myriad problems that were identified. So please thank them (or console them) as may be when you see them!
Finally, I take full blame for the postponement of this project. I apologize to everyone about not being able to provide the new application. I know that a number of you also put many hours of time into helping us develop, test, and train on it. We will make that time up to you in the future.
As always, let me know if you have any questions about this. I'm impressed. In that final hour, when each breath is a struggle to take, and you are looking back over your life's accomplishments, which memories would you treasure? The empires you built, or the joy you spread to others?
Therin lies the true measure of a man.
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Post #118,828
9/25/03 11:27:25 AM
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Nifty.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #118,839
9/25/03 12:18:56 PM
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My hero
I hope to be like him one day. I am taking Business Management and am just reading up on how teams work. Classes haven't even started yet and I already started reading the book they gave me. I'll have to work with other students on a team assignment to learn how teams work. Not groups or workgroups, but self-managing teams with common goals and collaberation. An interesting concept, but it is complex and takes a lot of money and effort to get it to work.
"Lady I only speak two languages, English and Bad English!" - Corbin Dallas "The Fifth Element"
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Post #118,912
9/25/03 8:09:46 PM
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You are doing it still/again.
--
[link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg],
[link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey
[insert witty saying here]
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Post #118,966
9/26/03 6:22:13 AM
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Wry LRPD - Nothing like the smell of Nadsat in the morning!
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Post #119,010
9/26/03 10:18:00 AM
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OT: That word really grates on my nerves
"Nadsat", that is.
The actual spelling would be much closer to "-n_a_tzat'" where "'" indicates a soft 't' sound.
As it is spelled, it's very close to the word "nadsad", which means strained, very loud shout or cry, often in distress. Not a word to be used lightly.
In any case, the Russian word that corrsponds to "teen" is not connected to numerics. The word is "podr_o_stok", literally translated as "undergrowth".
--
One Buffalo Bill
And one Biffalo Buff
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Post #119,047
9/26/03 11:32:51 AM
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That was probably intentional.
Many of the words of Nadsat were [link|http://www.clockworkorange.com/nadsat.shtml|intentionally similar to several words], often with the intent of forming a multi-lingual pun.
Since the teens in Burgess' novel were often in distress (and hence took it out in violence), this extra meaning doesn't surprise me at all.
Nadsat isn't just Russian, incidentally. "[link|http://www.geocities.com/fidelio1st/literature/historyofnadsat.htm|Nadsat is influenced by] Russian, German, English, Cockney Slang, and it also contains invented slang."
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #119,054
9/26/03 12:07:55 PM
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If so, it's unfortunate
No slang would have a self-name that means "in distress". People just don't think this way.
And, btw, I noticed another similar slip in the text you're referring to. The word "tolchok", as far as I understand, stands for "push" or "hit". In Russian, this word is a noun, and it has a connotation of relatively small (-ok suffix), unintentional, almost "no-actor" event. A good usage would be: "Even though the trains collided at low speed, the "tolchok" was significant". Or: "Even though Mr.A did not push very hard, the "tolchok" enraged MR.B". Also, the real Russian slang uses this word as synonym of balck market or flea market. That meaning, and another one, of small pretext or cause of large event. is far more prevalent than the original meaning of physical pushing.
--
One Buffalo Bill
And one Biffalo Buff
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Post #119,057
9/26/03 12:18:05 PM
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A Clockwork Orange *was* a political commentary...
No slang would have a self-name that means "in distress". People just don't think this way. But if the author was trying to make a point... As far as changing the meaning or form of a word, tolchok is the least of your worries. "Khorosho" and "horrorshow" is a pretty good indication of how far Burgess went. As far as Russian slang goes, keep in mind the book was written in 1962. I don't know if that changes your argument or not. Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #119,060
9/26/03 12:33:55 PM
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1962 does not change thje argument.
Also, not sure who said that he hates authors who kill chracters to make a point. Killing a language bugs me.
--
One Buffalo Bill
And one Biffalo Buff
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Post #119,140
9/26/03 9:28:22 PM
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Share your pain - it's not a hopeful prospect.
The forces of Commerce and Corp-managed politics will kill any word as suits a purpose of dissembling for power - cf
Compassionate Conservative - a phrase whose invention.. indicated a need for the claim of a new sensibility: its image natch, not any actual change. Let's not even peek at patriotism as automatic support even for Idiots.
(and of course, by now: virtually every other label for formerly ~ recognizable political attitudes including even what "Left' or 'Right' might mean - in '03)
Alas too, as early as '60s I recall seeing in the Mother Country of (Our) Language - a double-decker bus at Oxford Circus, with a {ugh} Advert on its side:
Drinka
Pinta
Milka
Day
..shades of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mystery at the Ad Agency, Murder Must Advertise.
et tu, Brute? then let there be Limbaughs. Who can say if it's already too late to actively begin reversing the damage? (That would require inculcation of a new respect for Language, in perhaps the most personally disrespectful Era yet)
Ashton, dinosaur
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Post #119,069
9/26/03 12:51:16 PM
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It's also a creative use of slang
To me, nadsat is an interesting study in language evolution. Although the book was written in 1962, it's not intended to convey the slang of that year (or for that matter any other year). The book is set in the future and we know that slang evolves over time. Some slang words take on a meaning opposite from that of the original terminology (I'm a "bad" ass), other slang just combines words, or mispronounce them in creative ways.
No matter whether you read the book in the '60s or today, the language still seems futuristic. If you take any other book from that time period and look at their use of slang, you'll find they are hopelessly outdated.
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Post #119,156
9/26/03 10:17:54 PM
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Internet tolchok on the gulliver :)
-drl
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