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Subject:Against "we" From:"Larry Kunz ((919) 254-6395)" <ldkunz -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 17 Aug 1995 12:45:09 EDT
The following message was posted to the list yesterday by an
unthinking, unfeeling machine:
> The user hilary no longer has an active account on bcn.
> The mail you sent will be received by hilary in the event that
> the account is re-activated. Another means of communication is advised.
> Important requests for more information on the hilary account can be sent
> to postmaster -at- bcn -dot-
Did anyone else notice that this message contains a way out of the
"We recommend/It is recommended that" ditch -- a way that, I think,
none of us thought of? I'm not suggesting that "Another means of
communication is advised" is deathless prose. I just find it
interesting that the machine found a possibility that all of us
humanoid types overlooked.
Larry Kunz
STC Assistant to the President for Professional Development
ldkunz -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
