Seeking Minimal Python Project Name (was: [pypy-dev] Re: [ann]MinimalPython project)

[Laura Creighton]

> On 13 Jan 2003 07:27:46 -0800
> Paul Rubin <phr-n2002b at NOSPAMnightsong.com> wrote:
> > I don't see pithy as having negative connotations beyond sounding a
> > little bit like "pissy".  But I'm not that crazy about it anyway.
> 
> It does look a lot like pity, which gives me negative vibes.
> 
> /Mikael

To pith a frog is to kill it by destroying its central nervous system
(usually by passing a needle through it).  

'Pithy' is one of those words, which (unless you are doing anatomy)
almost exclusively shows up as part of the phrase 'pithy saying'.  It
started out with the meaning 'precise and to the point'.  These
days most people who use the expression believe that it means
'trite, hackneyed ...  a cliché'.  (And I sure surprised people recently
when I thanked them for calling something I said 'pithy'.  Alas,
no compliment was intended ...)

Laura Creighton