On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 7:58 AM, Peter Humphrey <peter@humphrey.ukfsn.org>wrote:

> On Friday 20 August 2010 14:20:35 Bill Longman wrote:
> > On 08/19/2010 04:38 PM, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > > On Thursday 19 August 2010 21:21:20 Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
> > >> So I looked up "auto-hinter" in the flagedit(1) program. It says:
> > >> auto-hinter: Local Flag: Use the unpatented auto-hinter instead
> > >> of the (recommended) TrueType bytecode interpreter (media-
> > >> libs/freetype)
> > >>
> > >> The placement of the "(recommended)" is just a bit ambiguous.
> > >
> > > No, it isn't. You may be being confused by the unnecessary
> > > inclusion of brackets (parentheses if you're American); remove
> > > them and you see that the TrueType byte-code interpreter is
> > > recommended. Or, just consider the phrase "the recommended
> > > TrueType bytecode interpreter", with or without brackets. I can't
> > > see how that could be thought ambiguous.
> >
> > I have to agree it's ambiguous. You have to wonder why the
> > parenthetical "recommended" is offset if it's just part of the
> > sentence. If it were as you say, there would be no need to put them
> > there. As it is written it sounds like it's making an aside claiming
> > that one of them is recommended and, by its placement, it's hard to
> > discern its antecedent.
>
> Its placement puts it squarely with the noun phrase following it. To
> associate it with the preceding one instead would be perverse. (Just to
> continue flogging a dead horse...)              :-)
>
> I agree though that the brackets are neither necessary nor helpful.
>
>
Interesting replies all, especially the OT ones about parentheses, about
which more later.

For the me the confusion arises because I've become used to seeing
"(recommended)" coming just after the item being  described as such. So I
would see options a, b (recommended), or c.  This was my reason for making
the guess I did, although the rest of the punctuation was less clear than my
example, thus the ambiguity.  As was pointed out, it also struck me that if
"recommended" was intended to apply to the second option, the () thingies
were better omitted.

<OT>
As to the thingies, I enjoyed discovering that to many people a parenthesis
is not a glyph or punctuation mark, but instead the contents of the language
set aside in one way or another.  I had always regarded parentheses as the
round glyphs (), but this turns out to be normative primarily in
mathematics, computer programming languages and similar fields.  But I find
several competing meanings and sources using
http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=parenthesis&ia=luna
==================================================================================================
  pa·ren·the·sis  [image: parenthesis
pronunciation]<http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/P01/P0114800>
 /pəˈrɛnθəsɪs/ <http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html>
Show
Spelled[puh-ren-thuh-sis]
<http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/Spell_pron_key.html> Show IPA
 –noun, plural -ses [image: parenthesis
pronunciation]<http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/P01/P0114900>
 /-ˌsiz/ <http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html> Show
Spelled[-seez]
<http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/Spell_pron_key.html> Show IPA.
1.
either or both of a pair of signs ( ) used in writing to mark off an
interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings
of symbols in mathematics<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mathematics>
 and symbolic logic, etc.
2.
Usually, parentheses. the material contained within these marks.
3.
Grammar . a qualifying, explanatory, or appositive word, phrase, clause, or
sentence that interrupts a syntactic construction without otherwise
affecting it, having often a characteristic intonation and indicated in
writing by commas, parentheses, or dashes, as in William Smith—you must know
him—is coming tonight.
4.
an interval.

 Dictionary.com, "parenthesis," in *Dictionary.com Unabridged*. Source
location: Random House, Inc.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parenthesis. Available:
http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: August 20, 2010.
------------------------------
*Origin: *
1560–70;  < LL < Gk parénthesis  a putting in beside. See
par-<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/par->,
en- <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/en->2 ,
thesis<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thesis>
   Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.


=================================================================================================
also this:
*parenthesis * (pəˈrɛnθɪsɪs) [image: [Click for IPA pronunciation
guide]]<http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/IPA_pron_key.html>
  — *n * , *pl * *-ses * 1. a phrase, often explanatory or qualifying,
inserted into a passage with which it is not grammatically connected, and
marked off by brackets, dashes, etc 2. Also called: *bracket * either of a
pair of characters, (), used to enclose such a phrase or as a sign of
aggregation in mathematical or logical expressions 3. an intervening
occurrence; interlude; interval 4. *in parenthesis * inserted as a
parenthesis   [C16: via Late Latin from Greek: something placed in besides,
from *parentithenai, * from para- 1  + en- ² + *tithenai * to put]
Dictionary.com,
"parenthesis," in *Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th
Edition*. Source location: HarperCollins Publishers.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parenthesis. Available:
http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: August 20, 2010.
=================================================================================================
And, finally

 Word Origin & History

parenthesis
1550, "words, clauses, etc. inserted into a sentence," from M.Fr.
parenthèse,  from L.L. parenthesis  "addition of a letter to a syllable in a
word," from Gk. parenthesis,  lit. "a putting in beside," from parentithenai
 "put in beside," from para-  "beside" + en-  "in" + tithenai  "put, place,"
from PIE base *dhe-  "to put, to do" (see
factitious<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/factitious>).
Extension of the word to the curved brackets that indicate the words
inserted is from 1715.

Dictionary.com, "parenthesis," in *Online Etymology Dictionary*. Source
location: Douglas Harper, Historian.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parenthesis. Available:
http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: August 20, 2010.

</OT>
-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD