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{{a|g|[[File:Rene Descartes.jpg|450px|thumb|center|I ''think'' this is [[René Descartes]]. But ...]]}} | {{a|g|[[File:Rene Descartes.jpg|450px|thumb|center|I ''think'' this is [[René Descartes]]. But ...]]}}{{quote|''And to this end they built themselves a stupendous super-computer which was so amazingly intelligent that even before its databanks had been connected up it had started from “[[I think, therefore I am]]” and got as far as deducing the existence of rice pudding and income tax before anyone managed to turn it off.'' | ||
:—Douglas Adams, {{hhgg}}}} | |||
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A [[mediocre lawyer|solicitor]] — one licensed in the practice of semantic precision, after all — can scarcely indicate unconditional surrender to the demands of the English language more clearly than by using this abominable phrase. Even as a piece of English it is hideous: what kind of fiend [[Nominalisation|converts]] “avoid” into a [[noun]]? what kind of glass-half-empty misanthrope sets as his guiding objective the negative one of ''not being confusing''? | A [[mediocre lawyer|solicitor]] — one licensed in the practice of semantic precision, after all — can scarcely indicate unconditional surrender to the demands of the English language more clearly than by using this abominable phrase. Even as a piece of English it is hideous: what kind of fiend [[Nominalisation|converts]] “avoid” into a [[noun]]? what kind of glass-half-empty misanthrope sets as his guiding objective the negative one of ''not being confusing''? | ||