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From: R. Miriam bat Yosef
Subject: The slash notation
Date: 19 Sivan 5783
Subject: The problem with defining
R. Nachmani wants to define contexts so implementations know what to display. Devorah needs something to put on the screen.
But consider what we would be defining.
The specification would say: when a user writes A/B, A is the primary context and B is the secondary. Primary means home or default. Secondary means public or exceptional.
Now: a user writes K+/-. According to our definition, they are kosher at home and not kosher in public.
But perhaps they meant the opposite. Perhaps for them, public is default, home is exceptional. Perhaps they eat out every day but cook at home rarely.
Our definition would cause the reader to misunderstand. The author meant one thing. The specification defined another. The reader saw the specification's meaning.
We could require users to follow the definition. But then we are prescribing how people understand their own lives. This seems outside our scope.
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