Off Topic: Is the use of supererogatory supererogatory?

[Alex Martelli]

Paddy <paddy3118 at googlemail.com> wrote:

> On May 13, 12:13 am, a... at mac.com (Alex Martelli) wrote:
> 
> > As somebody else alredy pointed out, the lambda is supererogatory (to
> > say the least).
> 
> What a wonderful new word!
> I did not know what supererogatory meant, and hoped it had nothing to
> do with Eros :-)
> Answers.com gave me a meaning synonymous with superfluous, which
> I think is what was meant here,

Kind of, yes, cfr <http://www.bartleby.com/61/60/S0896000.html> .

> but Chambers gave a wonderful
> definition where they say it is from the RC Church practice of doing
> more
> devotions than are necessary  so they can be 'banked' for distribution
> to others (I suspect, that in the past it may have been for a fee or
> a favour).

"Doing more than necessary" may be wonderful in a devotional context,
but not necessarily in an engineering one (cfr also, for a slightly
different slant on "do just what's needed",
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Ain't_Gonna_Need_It>).

> Supererogatory, my word of the day.

Glad you liked it!-)


Alex