We’ve been getting a lot of mail about our use of the word “complement”
if you take a look at my Rapleaf profile, you’ll see what people said about me. if you want to see what i said about them, you can click on the “complement”
lots of people have written in suggesting we use “compliment” instead. “compliment” is defined as “An expression of praise, admiration, or congratulation”
on Rapleaf, the “complement” to a comment might not be a “compliment.” the complement could be praise but it could also be critical.
unfortunately, i’m just an engineer and my code is probably better than my english … so i am sure i’ll lose the grammar wars. but if anyone wants to back me up on this (or debate me), i look forward to hearing from you.
RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI
May 17th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
I would say compliment is incorrect for what you are trying to achieve, but perhaps complement is a little awkward. A new word or phrase is in order!
Why not something more straightforward? Like “auren’s reply”?
And when is the API coming out?!
May 17th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
I say rock on Auren; your English is exactly correct, and “complement” is precisely the right word for what you intend. Mack is right of course you’ll get some queries from people, but what the heck. Today you educate people about this word, tomorrow you can tackle “eck cetera” or “momentos” or other wincing misuses of the English language.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:24 am
Well, I guess you wouldn’t get the Cambridge English Award, but I agree with charles: compliment and complement are right and a cool word-play after all.
I somehow have a similar problem with cyclr: What is the generic term for “debt” and “credit”? Is it obligation? I don’t like the word too much. And what do you call an event where several obligations are created? E.g. a diner at a restaurant or a shared birthday present… Would you say “issue”, “story”, “instance”?
By the way Auren, is there already an API? I would love to integrate rapleaf with cyclr soon.
May 19th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
I shouldn’t have been so quick to assume that ‘compliment’ was a typo. The deliberate use of ‘complement’ is cute.
What I’m most proud of is that I’m the only feedback element on Auren’s rapleaf for which he has not posted a complement. I like it that way, makes me feel like I’m an unspoken bad boy.
-Ken