11 lines
2.2 KiB
HTML
11 lines
2.2 KiB
HTML
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>rathole</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../R.html" title="R"/><link rel="previous" href="rat-dance.html" title="rat dance"/><link rel="next" href="ratio-site.html" title="ratio site"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">rathole</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="rat-dance.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">R</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="ratio-site.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="rathole"/><dt xmlns="" id="rathole"><b>rathole</b></dt></dt><dd><p> [from the English idiom “<span class="quote">down a rathole</span>” for a waste of
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money or time] A technical subject that is known to be able to absorb
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infinite amounts of discussion time without more than an infinitesimal
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probability of arrival at a conclusion or consensus. “<span class="quote">That's a
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rathole</span>” (or just “<span class="quote">Rathole!</span>”) is considered a
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pre-emptive bid to change the subject. The difference between ratholes and
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<a href="religious-issues.html"><i class="glossterm">religious issues</i></a> is that a holy war cannot be
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pre-empted in this way. Canonical examples are XML namespaces and
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open-source licensing.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="rat-dance.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../R.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="ratio-site.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">rat dance<63></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>ratio site</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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