RELEASED: allout-vim 031229

[François Pinard]

[Samuel Walters]

> Your blurb ("The Allout file format is ...") is only useful if you
> know what a "synoptic structure of a text file" is, especially in
> the context of computers.

I sometimes use French words that just happen to be English words
as well, once done the obvious morphological changes!  The word
"synoptique" has been part of my early youth: even in elementary school,
teachers were bringing us into writing "plans synoptiques" to summarise
our learning.

There are a few words which are dangerous, as having very
different meanings in French and English, this sometimes yield to
misunderstandings.  For example, English "to deceive" is much, much
stronger than French "decevoir".  In French, we easily use "formidable"
to describe a girl who is wonderfully sympathetic and/or attractive.

> I tried googling for the term and some variations, and only turned
> up religious sites.  I wasn't familiar with the format or the
> terminology.  Looking up synoptic in the dictionary didn't shed much
> light on the situation.

It surprises me.  I learned English mostly by reading technical texts
or messages -- or after being hired for teaching courses in English
provinces or United States! :-).  Many `man' pages have a `SYNOPSIS'
division, which summarises how to lay out the command they describe.

> I just wanted to know what it did before I went through the trouble of
> downloading it.

Of course.  I rather hate when messages are merely inviting me to go out
for fishing, so I would not want doing such things to others. :-)

                     And all of you, I wish you enjoy These Times!

-- 
François Pinard   http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard