"at your own risk"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Curses. Hoisted foully by my own petard.

That's life in the swamp.

JL

Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Grant Barrett
Subject: Re: "at your own risk"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the software equivalent of the warning stickers on ladders that
say "don't fall off, and don't sue us if you do." SpyBot mucks about in
strange places in the system software, which can be treacherous because
some viruses and trojans enmesh themselves so tightly with it. If
SpyBot hoses your puter when it's supposed to be getting rid of
baddies, then the developers of SpyBot absolve themselves of all
responsibility for your data loss or loss of days.

The developers are German, I believe, so puns and jokes seem a little
less likely than if they were from the anglosphere.

Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org

PS: In your case, Jon, it would be at *my* own risk. : 0 )

On Jan 26, 2005, at 10:31, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> The title of the dialogue box in SpyBot says "SpyBot Seach and
> Destroy - Use at your own risk!"
>
> Is this a pseudo-clever pun of some sort? Does it mean - or is it
> supposed to suggest - "Use AGAINST your potential RISKS?" Or is it a
> message from Windows warning me to use Bill Gates's products only?
>
> What's with this?


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