VMs: Re: Numbered transcription

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi GC,

> Glyphs are the individual bricks, and 'words' the mortar that
> holds them together.  I must disagree that the line is the
> smallest unit, when obviously the glyph is the smallest unit.  No
> two lines are identical, and only a handful of 'words' are
> repetitive.  The glyph is the unit to be concerned with, the brick
> that needs to be identified, the smallest unit of information
> transmission.

The line is the smallest unit of unambiguous agreement, not the smallest 
unit of meaning. Any of us could point to probably hundreds of cases where 
the case for and against a "word" division could be debated endlessly. And 
should a double-space between words be encoded the same as a single space? 
And so on.

Surely the process here is of agreeing a container within which our diverse 
ideas and opinions can be held and compared against each other?

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling......