The -P Convention
Prev | Chapter 4. Jargon Construction | Next

## The -P Convention

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 T and NIL.)

At dinnertime:
Q: “Foodp?”
A: “Yeah, I'm pretty hungry.” or “T!”
At any time:
Q: “State-of-the-world-P?”
A: (Straight) “I'm about to go home.”
A: (Humorous) “Yes, the world has a state.”
On the phone to Florida:
Q: “State-p Florida?”
A: “Been reading JARGON.TXT again, eh?”

[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: “Split-p soup?” — GLS]

Prev | Up | Next
Soundalike Slang | Home | Overgeneralization