Apr 27, 2011

Fun With Symbolic Logic

Bill Mutranowski, 4/25/11:
Yet another reason why the English language needs to incorporate brackets to add to logical clarity.

Does Mutranowski mean "all one can really do is not [pray and send money]", as I first read it?

Or did he mean the slightly less nihilistic "all one can really do is a) [not pray] and b) [send money]", as I would hope?
Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 2:00 PM
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:34 PM, April 27, 2011

    Judging by the small 'atheistcartoons.com' URL in the lower right, he probably meant the latter: (not pray) + (send money instead).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrew Wheeler6:54 PM, April 27, 2011

    Anonymous: What? Just because Mutranowski's an atheist, that doesn't mean he's a soft touch!

    And if he'd really meant that, wouldn't he have written "all we can really do is send money and not pray"?

    ReplyDelete

Please remember that the purpose of Editorial Explanations is to explain and to expand knowledge, rather than to engage in any partisan bickering. All cartoonists are completely correct, in their own worlds.

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