Programming and IT in general creates a certain skew in understanding English. For example, take the word “condition.” I always used to think it meant “requirement” and nothing more. Well, primarily a “requirement.” For example, “three conditions have to be met.” Actually, that’s just the third meaning. And the word “conditioning” sounded odd to me.
The Oxford Dictionary gives the first and second meanings of condition as a noun — “state” (“she was in a serious condition”) and “circumstances” (“the appalling conditions determined the style of play”). Additionally, there’s an interesting use of condition as a verb — “restricted by something or determined by something” (“choices are conditioned by the international political economy”).
But in the USA, I mostly hear this word in the sense of “prepare [someone for life or something for use]” (“train or accustom (someone or something) to behave in a certain way” and “bring (something) into the desired state for use.”).
For example, conditioning is the process or action aimed at bringing something into a certain state or accustoming to a certain behavior. For example, improving physical fitness or endurance through regular exercises. The process in which materials such as leather, hair, or textile are treated to modify their properties, improve their quality, or prepare them for use. For example, “leather conditioning” involves applying special treatments to preserve the softness and durability of the leather. Hence, hair conditioner.
Or take “content.” The verb content means “satisfy.” And the noun – a state of peaceful happiness.
Do you have any words that you have always thought from your experience in IT to mean one thing, but it turns out they mean something slightly different?
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 