Em 11 de abril de 2013, Riccardo (Jack) Lucchetti escreveu:
On Wed, 10 Apr 2013, Henrique Andrade wrote:
Dear Allin and Jack,
>
> What do you think about naming the new window with the words "session"
> instead of "example"? In fact, in my interpretation, when we open a new
> window that is independent from the others, we're starting a new
> "session".
> Aren't we?
>
Ahhh, I think I see your problem now, sorry for not having thought about
before: in English the word "instance" can be used as a synonym of
"example", (especially in the "for instance" phrase) but doesn't
have to.
Especially in the technical jargon, it is very much used as a vague synonym
of "copy" or "repetition", as in "another thing which is
distinct from the
preceeding ones, but it's basically the same thing repeated one more time".
That's why we say "n instances of gretl". In this sense, it's not a
synonym
of "example" at all.
In Italian, the word "istanza" is not a synonym of "example" either
(you
just don't say "per istanza" as you would say "per esempio"),
though it
retains its technical meaning (it is also a common word in the law jargon,
but it doesn't matter).
From what you say, I guess that in (Brazilian, perhaps?) Portuguese, the
association instance/example is much stronger than what I perceive, so
you're right, we should look for another word... in Portuguese!
(...)
Dear Jack,
The use of "instance" here in Brazil is the same as you described for
Italy. Actually, I made a mistake when I wrote the message: I put
erroneously the word "example" when I intended to put the word
"instance".
I'm really sorry about this :-(
Best,
Henrique Andrade*
*