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Old 08-May-2007, 11:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A.DIM View Post
I will most certainly be alive when it is." ??
This is a similarly sloppy claim, specifically the words "most certainly". It isn't. It's within a normal human lifespan, and it's fair to say it's within your life expectancy, but there's no such thing as certainty (and certainly not "most certainly") you'll live to be a part of it. It may sound pedantic, but one of my first bosses explained: "God forbid," (he was devoutly religious) "you might get hit by a bus tomorrow. We crosstrain and document everything, just in case."

More recently, I've used the same explanation (almost, but not quite verbatim) with some of my newer coworkers when I was the sole prog on site.

Sloppy language means sloppy ideas.

Learn to hedge your bets. The point of science, when properly done, is that when we finally commit to an assertion, after all of the appropriate work's been done (no slacking), we can (finally) be certain it's the truth. If you're parrotting anything from anyone, you're doing it wrong.
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