Re: Swiss govt agency declares Linux/OSS crapware "not a sufficientalternative to Microsoft products"

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, David!

In gnu.misc.discuss David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
> Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

>> In gnu.misc.discuss Alexander Terekhov <terekhov@web.de> wrote:

>>> Geistiges Eigentum in German is what "intellectual property" in
>>> English you silly.

>> What an amazing assertion!

> Not really.  Alexander certainly has lots of resources for talking
> nonsense, but in this particular case of word meaning, it is you who is
> barking up the wrong tree.

Possibly, but the jist of this thread was Terekhov's attempt to show RMS
ridiculous in his criticism of the term "intellectual property" by
alleging that the Swiss use the term "intellectual property".  The Swiss
do no such thing, as I have shown (I hope).

>> "Geistig" does not mean "intellectual", except as a subsidiary meaning.
>> Its primary meaning is "spiritual" or "religious",

> Still wrong.  You are confusing this with "geistlich" which indeed means
> "spiritual/religious".

Sorry about that!  My E/D dictionary lists "spiritual" as the first
translation of "geistig", "intellectual/mental" only secondly.

It's easy to confuse "intellectual property" with religion.  But if
"geistiges Eigentum" translates into "intellectual property", then
"geistige Krankheit" must be "intellectual illness", which I suppose
describes the current state of this mailing list quite well.

"Intellectual" in English denotes an advanced working of the brain,
whereas "geistig" in German doesn't necessarily.  So enhancing Emacs is
certainly intellectual, whereas the conversation on this mailing list
isn't, though it might well be described as "mental".

>> or perhaps "mental".  As I said, "geistig" is cognate with "ghostly".

> No.  "ghostly" would be "geisterhaft".

Ah!  Thank you for the new word!

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).