LullabyWords

bIn Lullaby Language http://www.ayeconference.com/articles.html, Jerry mentions three words that lull us into sleep when they should set off alarms. These words are "should", "just", "soon", "very", "only", "anything", and "all". What words should be added to the list, and what do they really mean?

Should you not receive a just answer soon, I have a secondary question:

Why are these words lullaby words?

Is it because they are vague words? Perhaps they are Miltonesque - encouraging us to provide our own meanings.

Or is it the context they're in? A context in which we believe we know what is being said, and so drift off.

- HuwLloyd 2004.08.31

They are lullaby words because they draw our attention away from important information about the complexity of the situation, while simultaneously suggesting that the situation is simple.

I would add the words no problem to the list, especially if I utter them. If I really thought that what you were asking was no problem, why would I introduce the concept of problem into the conversation?

Another lullaby word: obvious. If what I'm saying were truly obvious, I wouldn't have to say that it's obvious. These days, when I hear the word "obvious," I interpret it as "not obvious and possibly not true."

- DaleEmery 2004-08-31

still as in "I'm still going to finish on time." This means the person probably won't finish on time. DonGray 2004.09.01

simply - Thats simply a matter of programming.

Many of these phrases sound like 'wishful thinking'. They seem to be expressions of how we think we'd like events to transpire.
- HuwLloyd 2004.09.01

Or perhaps what we think other people wish would transpire. - JerryWeinberg 2004.09.01

I add the word easy. "That will be easy to do." AHHH! Run and hide as disaster is coming.

I have come to the conclusion that almost everything I want to transpire is difficult.

I think there are many things that I don't want to transpire that are easy. They seem to take no effort at all. For example, it seems really simple for someone to walk the halls, mutter a few untrue rumors, and cause people to become angry at one another for no reason.

DwaynePhillips 2004.09.05

Not exacly lullaby words, but related are the words that call in needs of some "higher" exogenous power or cause -- like freedom, liberty or in business "the economy". Its because of the economy that we need to do overtime dummy, that we need to ship with bugs dummy.... MartineDevos

I think Martine's talking mostly about nominalizations, generalized words that seem to stand for something real, or a real collection, but upon examination probably don't stand for anything specific. Maybe they do, but without the examination, you have no idea what they mean. they're lullaby words because they discourage you from making the necessary examination. Of course, the word "dummy" also tends to discourage people from asking for clarification, so it's also a lullaby word. - JerryWeinberg 2004.09.05

Basically: "If we start feeding ABC data from XYZ weekly, will we be able to do a weekly report on ABC?" "Basically, yes."

So it is basically yes, but not quite exactly yes. If we want to actually produce a weekly report on ABC, what else needs to happen besides feeding XYZ�s ABC data on a weekly schedule?

Sure (especially if it is Um, sure): "In this program, are you reading the entire contents of every row?" "Um, sure."

Ok, the program is a big SQL query. I do not know whether Oracle is reading the entire row, if it is using a covering index, or it is doing some other Oracle magic. I do not care. It is not a question that interests me. - ShannonSeverance 2004.09.08

In Lullaby Language http://www.ayeconference.com/articles.html, Jerry mentions three words that lull us into sleep when they should set off alarms. These words are "should", "just", "soon", "very", "only", "anything", and "all". What words should be added to the list, and what do they really mean?

My question is what the word "three" means.

MichaelBolton 2004.11.02

It's the name of a friend of mine. You definitely need to be wide awake whenever III comes into the room. - JerryWeinberg 2004.11.02

I heard the tale of III (or should that be Three rather than three) at EuroCamp from NynkeFokma et al. Sounds a real character, and someone I'd like to meet (although not here as I believe he's not a fan of the computer)!

PhilStubbington 2004.11.02

He's actually a computer consultant. He's not a fan of email. I don't know if he uses the web. - JerryWeinberg 2004.11.03

Updated: Thursday, November 4, 2004