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I thought it was an easy question ...

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Submitted ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨slice@feddit.org⁩ to ⁨science_memes@mander.xyz⁩

https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/dcb77029-ce43-40b1-9357-f6f7b2663ab1.jpeg

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  • superkret@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If you want a clear definition, ask a mathematician:

    A word is any written product of group elements and their inverses.

    Or a computer scientist:

    A word is a fixed-sized datum handled as a unit by the instruction set or the hardware of the processor.

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    • folekaule@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Meanwhile, in Unicode land…

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    • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Maybe ironically, neither one would be appropriate as a linguistic definition.

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    • affiliate@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      i wonder what the inverse of the letters in the english alphabet are. since it has 26 letters, we know that some letters won’t have inverses. i wonder which letters don’t have inverses. i guess it would be pretty easy to find out if you use the standard alphabet ordering and then port the alphabet over to ℤ/26ℤ, but that’s not a particularly satisfying answer.

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    • Malgas@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Or, in either field (formal language theory bridges both) it can mean any string of symbols, letters, or tokens.

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  • four@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    “word” is a four letter word

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    • lugal@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Please, it’s w*rd, we want to keep this f*mily friendly

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      • tdawg@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        jst blck ll vwls t b* sf

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    • dessimbelackis@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I think you’ll find that in actual fact “bird” is the word

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      • prex@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        That’s what I heard.

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      • pseudo@jlai.lu ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Definition still applies

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      • angrystego@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Birds are not real, though, are they?

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      • Entropywins@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        And it begins…probably be 2 days until I get the song out of my head

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    • nightwatch_admin@feddit.nl ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Word!

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    • railwhale@lemmy.nz ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Recursive acronyms definitions

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    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      that’s a bit wordy

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  • archonet@lemy.lol ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    if you accept the definition that a word is some letters, surrounded by a gap…

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    • slice@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      From which Tom Scott video is this ?

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      • archonet@lemy.lol ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        this one

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  • carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    xnopyt

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  • lugal@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Still even people new to writing have a good intuition about that but formalizing this intuition is a different story

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  • deaf_fish@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    And I love them for it. Seriously comfortable society is built on and by nerds.

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    • slice@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah I love it too. It was quite an interesting deep dive into that topic.

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  • wandermind@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    As a linguist, I’d just shrug.

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    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      “everyone knows what a word is, that is the definion”

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      • shneancy@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        the cries of alien archaeologists from the far future echo in the distance

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  • chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Saussure feelings

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  • Mango@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    What IS a word?

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    • SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      vsauce music starts playing

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    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      “what” is a word, correct.

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  • Hupf@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    What is Truth and what is God?

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