From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:24:15 +0800
To: rms@gnu.org
Subject: Re: propose: `cypherpunks license' (Re: Wanted: Twofish source code)
In-Reply-To: <199810090024.UAA02187@psilocin.gnu.org>
Message-ID: <199810090102.VAA05952@jekyll.piermont.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




Richard Stallman writes:
> Since you've quoted Juliet, let's look at what she is really saying.
> 
> Your topic is terminology and whether it matters, but Juliet has other
> concerns on her mind.  She uses Romeo's family name as a figure of
> speech, a stand-in for his family.  When she says his name is
> unimportant, she really means that his family ties should be
> unimportant.

There are many layers of meaning. There is Juliet, a fictional
character, who means something, in saying what she said. There is
Shakespeare, the writer, who meant something in writing the play as he
did. Then there is Perry Metzger, who obviously meant something in
quoting Shakespeare putting words into Juliet's mouth.

As entertaining as literary deconstruction can be, what is
interesting here is not what Juliet meant, but what Perry Metzger
meant in quoting Juliet.

> It's the same for "open source" and "free software".  They refer to
> the same software, but say very different things about it.  So how
> about giving people an accurate idea of what I say?  Even if you don't
> agree with me, you can still do that.

	"I don't know what you mean by `glory',", Alice said.

	Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't --- till I
	tell you. I meant `there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"

	"But `glory' doesn't mean `a nice knock-down argument'," Alice
	objected.

	"When *I* use a word", Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone,
	"it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

	"The question is", said Alice, "whether you *can* make words mean so
	many different things"

	"The question is", said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master --
	that's all."

Perry