Off Topic: Pathological

["Clark C. Evans" <cce@clarkevans.com>]

My spelling be damned.  Note I did use pathalOgical in my searches, 
I promise.

> Rick,
> 
> I'm wondering about your usage of the word "pathological".  I've seen 
> only a few times before (most recently in the book Learning Python).
> 
> On Sat, 3 Feb 2001, Rick Jelliffe wrote:
> > schema languages must be initially to identify pathological cases that
>                                                  ^
> In particular, I'm curious about the etymology of your usage
> of this word.  I've looked up the word in almost every dictionary
> and reference work that I have access to (the ones on my bookshelf
> date to the 70's and 80's so they may be out-of-date) and
> on-line sources below.  In each case, the word was either not
> found, or had the traditional (and expected), "compulsive" definition.
> 
> On the other hand, I found 6 hits on Robin Cover's Pages
> for the word.  In each case, the word is mentioned passively
> as if I'm aware of what the word means.
> 
> Is there a computer science definition of this word
> that I have not yet been able to discover?
> 
> Just wondering....  Clark
> 
> P.S. I especially find About.Com's definition interesting:
> 
>      An individual with an addictive behavior toward Internet use.
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Hit List from Robin Cover's Site:
> 
> 1. http://xml.coverpages.org/blocks-protocol003.html
> 2. http://xml.coverpages.org/bib-mn.html
> 3. http://xml.coverpages.org/ihc97kipp.html
> 4. http://xml.coverpages.org/rcdataCTS1.html
> 5. http://xml.coverpages.org/sgml97-tutorial.html
> 6. http://xml.coverpages.org/xslAsValidator19990124.html
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> 
> pathological (path'?-loj?i-k?l) also pathologic (-ik) adjective
> Abbr. path., pathol.
> 
> 1.Of or relating to pathology.
> 2.Relating to or caused by disease.
> 3.Of, relating to, or manifesting behavior that is habitual and
> compulsive:
> a pathological liar.
> 
> Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,
> Third Edition Copyright c 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic
> version licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V., further
> reproduction and distribution restricted in accordance with the Copyright
> Law of the United States. All rights reserved.
> 
> ...
> 
> From About.Com's Dictionary on Computer Science:
> 
> Search Results: pathological 
>  
>   Pathological Internet Use: Some Examples 09/29/97  
>   Some people have a problem with their Internet use.Are these people
>   addicted?
> 
> ...
> 
> Free On Line Dictionary of Computing
> http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?query=pathalogic
> 
> No match for pathalogic
> Sorry, the term pathalogic is not in the dictionary. Check the spelling
> and try removing suffixes like "-ing" and "-s".
> Why is this definition missing?
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> Dictionary of Algorithms, Data Structures, and Problems
> National Institue of Standards and Technology
> 
>   No entry for pathologic found
> 
> ...
> 
> Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering, 2nd Edition
> (c) 1983 by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.  
> 
>   No entry found for pathologic or pathological
> 
> ...
> 
> Computer dictionary and handbook, by charles j sippl (c) 1970
> 
>   No entry for pathalogic or pathalogical
> 
> ...
> 
> The J. Stefan Institute home page is located at http://www.ijs.si/ 
> English/Slovene dictionary of computer science
> Searching for "pathological"
> No words matched the search pattern.
> 
> ...
> 
> http://www.babylonia.org.uk/
> Welcome to Babylonia, the Computer Science Terms Dictionary.
> You find here translations of English computer science terms into
> German. For a guide to Babylonia, please read the explanations page.
> 
> Sorry, no matches were found containing pathological.
> 
> ...
>  
> Webopedia, The only on-line dictionary for computer technology
> http://webopedia.internet.com/
> You Searched on: pathological
> Your query for pathological was not found in our database. 
>      Try your search on internet.com instead.  
> 
> 
> 
> 
>