\title{Letter to the editor}
\author[Philip Taylor]{Philip Taylor\\RHBNC}
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\begin{multicols}{2}[\Section{Letter to the editor}]
Sir -- many congratulations on an excellent and informative issue of
Baskerville (Vol.~5, No.~2); my only queries concern the article on
``Portable documents: Why Use SGML'' by Professor David Barron, in
which he writes: ``Traditionally, a document was a file (or a deck of
cards), and consisted solely of text''.  I am surprised that Professor
Barron is apparently unaware of a far older tradition, in which a 
document consisted of a series of sheets of paper (earlier, vellum or
papyrus) of uniform size, bound between two slightly larger and more
rigid sheets of board, and containing not only text but also illustrations
and other entities;  this style of document, apparently common until at
least the end of the twentieth century, was called a ``book'', and
was highly portable, requiring very little in the way of support hardware
apart from some equally portable optical enhancement devices (``glasses'',
or ``spectacles'') for the visually challenged.  Professor Barron then
goes on to write: ``[\ldots]: such a document is a \emph {multimedia}
document'':  surely such a document is better termed a \emph {multimedium}
document, by analogy with existing \emph {multi\dots} words; I am sure
Professor Barron has never used a \emph {multipasses} compiler, plugged
in his computer to a \emph {multiways} socket outlet, or augmented
his computer system with a \emph {multipurposes} adapter.

Yours very sincerely,

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\begin{quote}
\emph{Professor Barron replies:} 
Sir -- Philip Taylor is to be complimented on a fine display of pedantry 
in the best academic tradition, the kind of tradition that gives academics
a bad name amongst normal folk. In computing we use lots of everyday 
words with specialised meanings, and most of us find no difficulty
in using the context of an utterance to achieve any necessary disambiguation.
With regard to his criticism of my use of the term ``multimedia document'',
I agree that I don't plug my computer into a multiways socket. But then,
I don't attend a performance of an operum at Covent Garden, either.
\end{quote}
\end{multicols}
