Ceci n'est pas un*e* pipe

[ghost]

On different locations in the tidyverse packages I came across the French saying Ceci n'est pas un pipe, referring to the 1948 painting La Trahison des images by Rene Magritte.

Unfortunately, it should be une pipe and not un pipe. Now it's actually saying something very similar to This is not an pipe. Highly annoying for English speakers, as is un pipe for French speakers.

Since giving so much credit to Margritte (by even naming the package magrittr) I think it would be appropriate to fix the spelling.

Found on (quick search, it's also in some R help pages):

• https://github.com/tidyverse/magrittr/blob/master/README.md
• https://github.com/tidyverse/magrittr/blob/master/man/figures/logo.png

Logo magrittr: Painting by Margritte:

[tfjmp]

Actually un "pipe" is the pipe (pronounced the english way) used in software. Une pipe is the one you smoke. So magrittr ceci n'est pas un pipe feels correct.

[ghost]

un "pipe" is the pipe (pronounced the english way)

May be, but French speakers (and other European French speakers like myself) pronounce %>% as ‘peep’ when talking about data analysis in French, not as ‘pipe’. To me it feels erroneous.

[tfjmp]

I am french too, never heard "peep" in a programming context.

[ghost]

Then it’s just the PhD students in my study group (all doctors starting to learn R). I’ll let them know how you think about this. Thanks!

I rest my case :wink: