(urth) This Week in Google Alerts: story with Gaiman

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "António Pedro Marques" <entonio at gmail.com>
> Gerry Quinn wrote:

>> I other words I think:
>>
>> <Terminus Est> : <Sev's language> :: Latin : English
>> <language Thea mentions> : <Sev's language> :: <really ancient language>
>> : English
>
> I suppose : means 'is to', :: means 'as' and <> are just paretheses?
> If so, it took me a while to figure it out.
> I would suggest avoiding >.

There is, or used to be, a mathematical notation that says:

a : b :: c : d
meaning
a is to b as c is to d.

It is used originally for ratios, and by analogy for comparisons, synonyms 
etc.

I used <> to differentiate multiword concepts; I often use angle brackets to 
differentiate some unitary thing from surrounding text but perhaps I should 
rethink if it is not coming across as such.

So yes, you got it right.  I'll try to be clearer in the future.

- Gerry Quinn