this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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xkcd

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Astronomers are a little unsure of the applicability of this index, but NASA's Planetary Protection Officer is all in favor.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

umm.

These characters have multiple entirely different meanings. How does one find out what the supposed meaning is? Or is it up to the reader to decide?

[โ€“] feedum_sneedson 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Context, apparently the word "set" has 430 meanings in the Oxford dictionary. So there's a lot of ambiguity. It's very confusing but I think we give as good as we get in that regard.