English Idiom in Unix: Directory Recursively

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 19 May 2011 22:13:14 -0700, rusi wrote:

> [I agree with you Xah that recursion is a technical word that should not
> be foisted onto lay users.]

I think that is a patronizing remark that under-estimates the 
intelligence of lay people and over-estimates the difficulty of 
understanding recursion.

Any person who has ever been to a barber or hairdresser with mirrors on 
two parallel walls will be familiar with recursion: a reflection of the 
reflection of the reflection of the reflection, forever.

In 1970, an extremely low-brow comedy "Carry On Up The Jungle" was about 
the search for an imaginary bird that flies in smaller and small circles 
until it disappears up it's own rear end, a type of recursion: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_On_Up_the_Jungle

The bird in question goes back in folklore since at least 1854:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oozlum_bird


Trust me on this, if the audience of Carry On films could understand 
recursion, anyone can!



-- 
Steven