The Required Amount at the Prescribed Rate (Handcrafted From the Finest Corinthian Leather)
Warning: Pedantry Ahead
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing (especially when it resides in my head) so I'm warning you ahead of time: I just learned that when you say a process has a "steep learning curve" you actually mean that the process is easy to learn-- because as you move along the x-axis of time, you zoom up the steep y-axis of learning proficiency, and before you know it, you can make brownies . . . if you want to say that something is difficult to learn, you say it has a "long and shallow learning curve," thus as you move along the x-axis of time, you barely go up at all on the y-axis of learning-- ten years later, you're middling fair at the oboe-- so I'm begging you, please don't say the phrase "steep learning curve" anywhere within my earshot, because my inner pedant is lying in wait, ready to pounce and explain this silliness, and, as much as I'd like to, I don't think I can control the impulse (although I've been doing great with the whole "lie" and "lay" fiasco, I heard several people screw it up royally on Friday and didn't say a word . . . but this "learning curve" thing is too rich to pass up).
This is the reason why opposing teams punch your players.
ReplyDeleteyou need a learning curb.
ReplyDeleteLook, the technically appropriate way to pronounce err is er and short-lived is short-lyved, but if you do that, everyone does a double take and eventually you get punched. Dave, you need to shush it or get punched. I know which one I vote for.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I fucking ended that sentence with a preposition.
The steepness of the learning curve refers to how quickly a person must learn a skill set, not the difficulty of the actual skill to be learned. For example, a person who works his way up to ship captain by starting as a deckhand, then as a mate, then as an officer and finally as a captain has a long learning curve to become proficient at a hard skill. A young, inexperienced sailor who is thrust into the captain’s seat because of circumstance is said to have a steep learning curve because he or she must become proficient in a very short period of time. The difficulty of the skill required to be a ship captain is the same, it is the period of time you have to learn those skills that determine the steepness of the learning curve.
ReplyDeleteGo be pedantic somewhere else.
Yeah Marls! Y = mX + b! Rise over run! Delta Y divided by delta X! Who said algebra is useless?
ReplyDeleteI was told there would be no math...
ReplyDeletei would contend that you are conveying an impossibility marls-- you can't go from deckhand to captain in a short amount of time, nor can you become a virtuous at the violin in a short amount of time, even if there is a gun pointed at your head. you just won't proceed and there will be no curve at all. the steepness has already been charted based on the short time and fast learning. i'm going to get out of this before someone punches me . . . OW, stop that!
ReplyDeleteYes Dave, sometime a learning curve can be impossibly steep. That does not change the fact that you were wrong before.
ReplyDelete