Thread: Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql: Document the all-balls IPv6 address.
Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:19 PM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> wrote:
>> On 03/18/2011 09:18 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
>>> "all balls" seems like a colloquialism best avoided in our documentation.
>> It's already there, although I agree it's infelicitous.
> I vote for taking it out. I think that could be interpreted as inappropriate.
IIRC, the pre-existing usage refers to time 00:00:00. It does not seem
especially useful to adopt the same terminology for network addresses;
that's more likely to confuse people than anything else.
regards, tom lane
On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 11:00:19PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote: > Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes: > > On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:19 PM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> wrote: > >> On 03/18/2011 09:18 PM, Robert Haas wrote: > >>> "all balls" seems like a colloquialism best avoided in our documentation. > > >> It's already there, although I agree it's infelicitous. > > > I vote for taking it out. I think that could be interpreted as inappropriate. > > IIRC, the pre-existing usage refers to time 00:00:00. It does not seem > especially useful to adopt the same terminology for network addresses; > that's more likely to confuse people than anything else. > And just as a historical etymological note for the list, in case anyone finds this in the archives: "all balls" referring to all zeros setting shows up as NASA speak in Apollo era transcripts, for any sort of "all zeros" setting - the one I remember off hand was actually a angle setting for an engine firing for Apollo 13. It may have been milspeak at one time as well. The more modern interpretation seems to be a contraction of "all balls, no brains", so would in fact be a little off for a changelog entry. Ross "etymologically yours" Reedstrom -- Ross Reedstrom, Ph.D. reedstrm@rice.edu Systems Engineer & Admin, Research Scientist phone: 713-348-6166 Connexions http://cnx.org fax: 713-348-3665 Rice University MS-375, Houston, TX 77005 GPG Key fingerprint = F023 82C8 9B0E 2CC6 0D8E F888 D3AE 810E 88F0 BEDE
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 11:07 AM, Ross J. Reedstrom <reedstrm@rice.edu> wrote: > On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 11:00:19PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote: >> Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes: >> > On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:19 PM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> wrote: >> >> On 03/18/2011 09:18 PM, Robert Haas wrote: >> >>> "all balls" seems like a colloquialism best avoided in our documentation. >> >> >> It's already there, although I agree it's infelicitous. >> >> > I vote for taking it out. I think that could be interpreted as inappropriate. >> >> IIRC, the pre-existing usage refers to time 00:00:00. It does not seem >> especially useful to adopt the same terminology for network addresses; >> that's more likely to confuse people than anything else. >> > > And just as a historical etymological note for the list, in case anyone > finds this in the archives: "all balls" referring to all zeros setting > shows up as NASA speak in Apollo era transcripts, for any sort of "all > zeros" setting - the one I remember off hand was actually a angle > setting for an engine firing for Apollo 13. It may have been milspeak at > one time as well. The more modern interpretation seems to be a > contraction of "all balls, no brains", so would in fact be a little off > for a changelog entry. This question has indeed come up before. See: http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-docs/2005-01/msg00054.php. I suppose that 'balls' as one of a large and growing number of words that has to be used carefully due to the increasingly deficient character of the modern mind. merlin