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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>The -P Convention</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="construction.html" title="Chapter 4. Jargon Construction"/><link rel="previous" href="soundalike-slang.html" title="Soundalike Slang"/><link rel="next" href="overgeneralization.html" title="Overgeneralization"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">The -P Convention</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="soundalike-slang.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 4. Jargon Construction</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="overgeneralization.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><div class="sect1" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="p-convention"/>The -P Convention</h2></div></div><div/></div><p>Turning a word into a question by appending the syllable
P; from the LISP convention of appending the letter
P to denote a predicate (a boolean-valued function). The
question should expect a yes/no answer, though it needn't. (See
<a href="T/T.html"><i class="glossterm">T</i></a> and <a href="N/NIL.html"><i class="glossterm">NIL</i></a>.)</p><div class="literallayout"><p><br/>
    At dinnertime:<br/>
          Q: “<span class="quote">Foodp?</span><br/>
          A: “<span class="quote">Yeah, I'm pretty hungry.</span> or <span class="quote">T!</span><br/>
<br/>
    At any time:<br/>
          Q: “<span class="quote">State-of-the-world-P?</span><br/>
          A: (Straight) “<span class="quote">I'm about to go home.</span><br/>
          A: (Humorous) “<span class="quote">Yes, the world has a state.</span><br/>
<br/>
    On the phone to Florida:<br/>
          Q: “<span class="quote">State-p Florida?</span><br/>
          A: “<span class="quote">Been reading JARGON.TXT again, eh?</span><br/>
</p></div><p>[Once, when we were at a Chinese restaurant, Bill Gosper wanted to know
whether someone would like to share with him a two-person-sized bowl of soup.
His inquiry was: “<span class="quote">Split-p soup?</span>” — GLS]</p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="soundalike-slang.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="construction.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="overgeneralization.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Soundalike Slang </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Overgeneralization</td></tr></table></div></body></html>