Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!goblin3!goblin.stu.neva.ru!exi-transit.telstra.net!news.telstra.net!exi-spool.telstra.net!exi-reader.telstra.net!not-for-mail From: "Charles" Newsgroups: comp.lang.python References: <4dd61066$0$29996$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <37nqa8-lpa.ln1@murmur.very.softly> <4ddaf94b$0$29996$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <4ddd898d$0$29996$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> Subject: Re: English Idiom in Unix: Directory Recursively Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 20:58:35 +1000 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3664 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3664 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original Lines: 23 Message-ID: <4dde325f$0$67776$c30e37c6@exi-reader.telstra.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 134.178.2.147 X-Trace: 1306407519 exi-reader.telstra.net 67776 134.178.2.147:3272 Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:6312 "Thorsten Kampe" wrote in message news:MPG.284834d227e3acd1989813@news.individual.de... > > If someone has learned what a directory or folder is, you don't have to > explain what "include sub-folders" means. Instead of creating a new > mysterious term ("recursively delete"), you simply explain stuff by re- > using an already existing term. It's just that simple. I'm a native english speaker, and to me there is a difference between "delete directory and sub-directories" (or folders and sub-folders if you follow Microsoft's naming conventions) and "recursively delete". I know english is very ambiguous, but to me "directory and sub-directories" does not necessarily imply sub-directories of sub-directories and so on, while "recursively delete" does carry the connotation of deleting the sub-directories of sub-directories and sub-directories of sub-directories of sub-directories and so on. Charles