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Hemingway App now available

hemingwayapp.com

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Re: Hemingway App now available

#21

Post by mztan »

After reading the comments, I now understand why the marketing copy touts saving and open text files as a feature. Given that there is no mention of the web app (AFAICT) on this page and that I had never heard of Hemingway App before, I initially was very confused as to why, for a text editor, saving/opening files and editing text offline would even be worth mentioning. I'm not saying the copy is poorly written (in fact I think it's written quite well), I just think that perhaps not enough of it is directed at people like me. Maybe a simple link back to the web app and some text explaining it would suffice.

Also, a minor nitpick: I think the usage of "Hemingway App" and "Hemingway Editor" is a bit confusing. I take it the web app is Hemingway App, and the desktop client is Hemingway Editor? Why, then, is the page title "Hemingway App for Mac OSX"? (side note, no love for Windows in the title?)

Not sure why I chose this comment to be my very first comment on HN.

Re: Hemingway App now available

#22

Post by ivansavz »

jasonkester wrote: post #16

Ironic that an app calling itself "Hemingway" would recommend against the word "Utilize". As a key example of "things to avoid" no less. Utilized in one of the more memorable exchanges in The Sun Also Rises: "Let us rejoice in our blessings. Let us utilize the fowls of the air. Let us utilize the product of the vine. Will you utilize a little, brother?" ... and so on for nearly ten pages, utilizing wine, pubs, etc. h…

So you're one of those people who like to use "utilize." I've always thought the word is used willy-nilly by people with feeble minds in order to "sound fancy," but you seem like an alright guy.

Could you tell me why you'd want to use "utilize" instead of "use"? Do you intend a different meaning e.g. make-use-of-in-unexpeded-way, or do you see them as synonyms?

To me, it sounds horrible---a buzzword and a French-isism (The French verb to use is utiliser).

Re: Hemingway App now available

#24

Post by briandear »

apetresc wrote: post #14

I can't wait to copy-paste one of Hemingway's novels into here and see how many issues it has with his writing.

Please do! I'm interested. Theoretically, Hemingway should score perfect. Since it's his editor and all. And Faulkner would likely score near the bottom. Gertrude Stein would likely result in a stack level too deep error.

"In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. We edited text every day. Carlos played the piano while we worked. The text editor was a good one, built like text editors should be built, solid and able to hold words well even when you hit the enter key in the irregular rhythm Carlos liked to use."

Re: Hemingway App now available

#25

Post by briandear »

pdpi wrote: post #19
briandear wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 5 dollars. Stop being cheap. Buy it if it sounds like something you'd like, if not, don't buy it. You don't get a demo of a movie when you buy it. You can't just watch half of it and then decide if you want to buy a ticket. It's pretty obnoxious when tech-types bitch about $5 yet have no problem billing clients $100+ per hour or making $100K+ per year as a developer of the very types of things about which they c…

> You don't get a demo of a movie when you buy it They're called "trailers".

And in software, it's called "screenshots."

Re: Hemingway App now available

#27

Post by jaxn »

ivansavz wrote: post #22
jasonkester wrote: post #16

Ironic that an app calling itself "Hemingway" would recommend against the word "Utilize". As a key example of "things to avoid" no less. Utilized in one of the more memorable exchanges in The Sun Also Rises: "Let us rejoice in our blessings. Let us utilize the fowls of the air. Let us utilize the product of the vine. Will you utilize a little, brother?" ... and so on for nearly ten pages, utilizing wine, pubs, etc. h…

So you're one of those people who like to use "utilize." I've always thought the word is used willy-nilly by people with feeble minds in order to "sound fancy," but you seem like an alright guy. Could you tell me why you'd want to use "utilize" instead of "use"? Do you intend a different meaning e.g. make-use-of-in-unexpeded-way, or do you see them as synonyms? To me, it sounds horrible---a buzzword and a French-isis…

To me, "utilize" means to use properly. It has a positive connotation that "use" does not.

edit: dictionary.com seems to agree. "to put to use; turn to profitable account"

Re: Hemingway App now available

#29

Post by makmanalp »

ivansavz wrote: post #22
jasonkester wrote: post #16

Ironic that an app calling itself "Hemingway" would recommend against the word "Utilize". As a key example of "things to avoid" no less. Utilized in one of the more memorable exchanges in The Sun Also Rises: "Let us rejoice in our blessings. Let us utilize the fowls of the air. Let us utilize the product of the vine. Will you utilize a little, brother?" ... and so on for nearly ten pages, utilizing wine, pubs, etc. h…

So you're one of those people who like to use "utilize." I've always thought the word is used willy-nilly by people with feeble minds in order to "sound fancy," but you seem like an alright guy. Could you tell me why you'd want to use "utilize" instead of "use"? Do you intend a different meaning e.g. make-use-of-in-unexpeded-way, or do you see them as synonyms? To me, it sounds horrible---a buzzword and a French-isis…

I'll bite. I get really mad when people do this.

  people - old french / latin
  feeble - old french
  mind - old english, but roots in germanic
  synonym - greek / latin
  expede - I think this doesn't mean what you think it means, but latin.
  horrible - old french
The list goes on. http://etymonline.com/index.php
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