Assume v. Presume

[trog]

Don't remember those. I can't remember what brand of petrol was sold at the garages where my dad worked (and my uncle owned). Shell? I do know there were collections of plastic coins (can't remember what they depicted)

I do not remember plastic coins but I did collect these metal ones from ESSO.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/SdMAAOSwo6ljORoZ/s-l1600.jpg

Edit The search triggered further memories, I collected these coins also and I had the key ring

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e1/e3/9b/e1e39b59d04dcf57d7186e4cd17638bb.jpg

 

[EEPhil]

I remember collecting the cars and space. Couldn't find them when I last moved house, so they've gone. Thought they were plastic. Perhaps an odd metal.

 

[Black Hole]

They are sorted lexicographically

Lexicographically? Lexicons only deal with alphabetic characters. We could say the sorting is alphanumeric, but that does not account for special characters.

I struggled to find a more correct word (I did check), and still do. As it seems do you.
I cribbed the following from here: https://nitishhsinghhh.medium.com/u...phic-order-in-programming-with-c-6d283dce5233

In mathematics, the lexicographic order extends the concept of alphabetical order to sequences of ordered symbols or elements of a totally ordered set.

Lexicographic order is an ordering of elements based on their alphabetical or numerical order. It is similar to the way words are organized in a dictionary. In lexicographic order, the comparison of elements is done character by character or digit by digit, starting from the leftmost position.

In programming, lexicographic order is determined based on the ASCII or Unicode values of the characters. The order of characters in the ASCII table is well-defined, with lowercase letters having higher values than uppercase letters, and digits being ordered sequentially.

Interesting. So that particular institution has adopted the term "lexicographic" for that purpose. I wonder how widespread it is?!

"Lexicography" is the process of compiling dictionaries, so I think this is a poor choice.

 

[EEPhil]

Interesting. So that particular institution has adopted the term "lexicographic" for that purpose. I wonder how widespread it is?!

The search I just did shows that term is very common. Trying to find a definition in an online (free) British English dictionary revealed no result!

 

[Black Hole]

Potato →︎ Potatoes

Video →︎ Videos not Videoes ?!!

 

[prpr]

Or is it potahto?

The only word in the dictionary I can find with "eoe" is geoengineering.

 

[Black Hole]

I've realised the grocer's apostrophe is not totally incorrect, if you interpret it as indicating a contraction!

 

[EEPhil]

The only word in the dictionary I can find with "eoe" is geoengineering

Or geo-engineering as some BBC pages put it. The geo part seems to be ambiguously defined https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoengineering_(disambiguation). If people mean climate engineering, why not say it!

Or is it potahto?

Perhaps it depends on whether you say tom-aye-toe or tomahto.

 

[Black Hole]

Or geo-engineering as some BBC pages put it.

I prefer the hyphenated form, it provides a clue how to pronounce the word.

 

[EEPhil]

I was going to post this as a media mistake, but it appears as though it isn't.

On ITV GMB News this morning in an item about vitamin supplements the caption showed "mcg" to mean micrograms (or microgrammes as I prefer!). Never seen that abbreviation before. I would use µg - but most people won't understand the Greek letter and it can be a so-and-so to type.
There, I learnt something from Good Morning Britain!

 

[Black Hole]

it can be a so-and-so to type.

In electronics, it is common to use "u" as a stand-in. The micro- prefix is only generally needed for capacitors, so pF, nF, uF, mF for picofarads, nanofarads, microfarads, and millifarads respectively (although we don't generally talk in millifarads, we would express it as, say, 2,200uF). In case anyone's curious, the basic unit of 1F is so huge (for good scientific reasons) it's like measuring domestic objects in terms of light-years. A conventional capacitor of 1F value would be physically gigantic (although "supercaps", which are more like batteries than capacitors and use chemistry to store charge, do get up to farads in relatively small packages).

Never seen that abbreviation before

I think I have, but I just had a quick shufti of my meds and supplements and very few go lower than mg (and they use mg). The one med which does spells out micrograms in full (on the box and the information leaflet). Tesco A-Z multivitamins uses "μg" in the detailed ingredients list.

 

[gomezz]

There is a case for abbreviating micro-grammes as mug.

 

[EEPhil]

In electronics, it is common to use "u" as a stand-in.

Is it? Debatable whether I was (am?) classed as an electrical or electronic engineer (BSc was both and MSc electronics - but worked in simulation of electromagnetic fields). Whatever, I've never used u in place of μ - even to the point of manually writing it into typed reports (in the days before word processors).

The one med which does spells out micrograms

None of mine do, not surprising as all are above 1mg.

 

[prpr]

Is it?

Yes, certainly much easier to type uF in a quick message such as this. There's no ambiguity. But it depends on the context how careful you should be on the choice.

 

[Black Hole]

Is it? Debatable whether I was (am?) classed as an electrical or electronic engineer (BSc was both and MSc electronics - but worked in simulation of electromagnetic fields). Whatever, I've never used u in place of μ - even to the point of manually writing it into typed reports (in the days before word processors).

Perhaps you're a bit older (and old-school) than me.

 

[EEPhil]

Perhaps you're a bit older (and old-school) than me.

Probably old-school (although I've just got my free concessionary bus pass ).

Yes, certainly much easier to type uF in a quick message such as this

Now you have me wondering whether I've ever used uF in message boards or email. It's possible - especially in those days when typing non-ASCII characters was impossible. Certainly never in reports or papers.

 

[Black Hole]

Certainly never in reports or papers.

For those you have to follow the prescribed standard (if there is one), but I would be inclined to say something like "μ, hereinafter represented as u".

although I've just got my free concessionary bus pass

I'm in Wales. I applied for (and received) my bus pass when I was 60. So far as I can recall it was free, and the very few occasions I've used it*, getting on the bus was free. It doesn't** work outside Wales though .

* Mostly when my car is off the road. Bus travel takes up so much time, I would rather not.

** With caveats: we can use it for a bus ride which starts or ends in Wales (ditto for holders of England bus passes – I had a friend from Bristol who used to get the bus over to me).

 

[EEPhil]

So far as I can recall it was free,

It's free in England. Everyone refers to it as a free bus pass, but the correct description is concessionary. For us old codgers in England we have to be 66 - I expect that'll rise with the pension age - unless you get a concessionary pass for a disability (are we allowed to say that?), and I don't. English passes don't work in Wales or Scotland (but see your caveat, maybe) and are valid on "local buses" only between 09:30 and 23:00 weekdays (all day at weekends although there may be a 23:00 cut-off). I'm sure some people are still using the pass at midnight. Unusually here in Notts they also apply on the tram - for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire passes only (wonder if that'll change to include Derbyshire when the passes are issued from the Notts/Derbys Mayor's office).

For those you have to follow the prescribed standard (if there is one), but I would be inclined to say something like "μ, hereinafter represented as u".

I'm not going back to reports from 1983-1991 and changing them!

 

[prpr]

For us old codgers in England we have to be 66 - I expect that'll rise with the pension age

It does. I won't get mine until 67.
It's blatant discrimination (a postcode lottery) with the lucky ones being in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Merseyside and London. Everyone else in England is basically a second-class citizen in this respect.

I'm not going back to reports from 1983-1991 and changing them!

Are any of them still relevant?

 

[gomezz]

* Mostly when my car is off the road. Bus travel takes up so much time, I would rather not.

Mine gets most use when I fancy a long, leisurely afternoon in one of my favourite pubs in the next small town which is too far to walk. Conveniently there is a bus stop right outside the pub and one right outside my local supermarket so I can pick up a something for my tea on the way home.