Strange Conversations: Part Twenty-Three
Posted 8 July 2008 in Strange Conversations by Catriona
A conversation emblematic of the difficulties in talking to a geek:
NICK: There’s about two megs of that still to download.
ME: What does that mean in minutes?
NICK: Well, it’s about 380 megs in total . . .
ME: Nick!
NICK: (hurt look).
ME: In minutes.
NICK: Well, it’s about 98% done.
ME: Minutes!
NICK: Anywhere from two to twenty five.
Well, that was helpful, honey: thank you.
Share your thoughts [2]
1
heretic wrote at Jul 9, 07:34 am
The problem is his answer was probably as accurate as possible given available data.
2
Catriona wrote at Jul 9, 07:53 am
In the end, yes: I imagine it was. But why did I have to ask three times to get a figure in minutes?
At times like that, I suspect Nick of taunting me (I’m sure he isn’t), because I have zero mathematical aptitude. It’s a source of constant amusement to my students whenever I have to do a headcount (or anything that involves counting) because I invariably have to do it twice and even then get two different answers.
There’s no way that I can translate 380 megs—or 20 megs—into anything comprehensible.