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Comment by mozz100 | Hacker News Reader

Love this article. I wonder if this is a brain-type thing. It really rings true for me.

Developing the idea, I have a similar multiple definitions problem, in a much smaller context, with the word “prescription”.

In the UK it means all of: a doctor’s idea of what medicine to give to a patient, a piece of paper with that written on it, and the medicine itself.

I got thoroughly confused when I went to collect a prescription from a pharmacy and was told “it’s (still) over at the surgery”. It wasn’t, or rather, it was. But we were talking about different prescriptions.

Anyone else have these (pedantic?) confusions?

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“Meter” is multiply overloaded. A unit of distance. A thing that makes measurements. An adjustment to a rate of flow.

“Extrusion” is a process as well as the object resulting from that process.

“By referencing the meter and adjusting the metering valve during extrusion, we can create a precisely meter long extrusion.”

Micrometer is a unit of measurement and measurement device that measures in that range, but often measures in thousands of an inch, which are commonly called “mills”, which is also the act of a type of machining and the name of the machinery that does it as well as the name of a common type of cutting tool that goes into that machine.

“Put an end mill in the mill and mill off five mills.”

> “Meter” is multiply overloaded. A unit of distance. A thing that makes measurements. An adjustment to a rate of flow.

There is "meter" and there is "metre".

> “Put an end mill in the mill and mill off five mills.”

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffal...

I usually see just one "L" in that last one ("mils"). Could help with the confusion in text-based communication at least.

Interesting. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it written (and “thou” is probably more common anyway), but you’re right and taught me something; thanks!

I guess "prescription" refers directly to your first definition but can also refer to the two other ones by metonymy [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy

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