Re: [PATCH] docs: use "currently" for the present time

From: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
Date: Jan 20, 2020, 21:53 UTC
Message-ID: <20200120215326.GE6570@camp.crustytoothpaste.net>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LFD.2.21.2001201633240.8488@localhost.localdomain>

On 2020-01-20 at 21:33:58, Robert P. J. Day wrote:

Show 13 quoted lines

> On Mon, 20 Jan 2020, brian m. carlson wrote:
> 
> > In many languages, the adverb with the root "actual" means "at the
> > present time."  However, this usage is considered dated or even archaic
> > in English, and for referring to events occurring at the present time,
> > we usually prefer "currently" or "presently".  "Actually" is commonly
> > used in modern English only for the meaning of "in fact" or to express a
> > contrast with what is expected.
> 
>  ... snip ...
> 
> as someone who is constantly being sheldon cooper-level pedantic, i
> totally agree with this sentiment.

As I mentioned, this is very minor and I can't imagine a native English speaker being confused by it, nor can I imagine a speaker of most European languages finding it confusing. It just stood out to me since I know Spanish and French and I thought, "Oh, someone was thinking in another language here."

I've actually been sitting on this patch for a while because I thought it might be too minor to send, but I finally decided to do it as I was sending some other doc patches.

-- 
brian m. carlson: Houston, Texas, US
OpenPGP: https://keybase.io/bk2204