Literal is as literal does

My wife and life-partner Michele notes fairly frequently (usually in a humorously exasperated tone) that I tend towards the overly literal. Maybe it's an occupational hazard borne from spending too many years in front of computers dealing with bits and bytes.

Tim Bray, a fellow I admire quite a bit, reports this exchange on his Ongoing blog:

At the joint where I stop for coffee most mornings, there’s a little notice taped to the counter for the staff. It says “One pound = 455 grams.” This has been bothering me for weeks. This morning something snapped and I said to the pretty sales-girl “You know, that’s wrong.” “What?” “It says 455 grams but it’s really 454.” “What?” “That little sign there, it’s wrong, there are really only 454 grams in a pound.” “WHAT?” She wasn’t parsing me, and I was getting rattled. I think I failed to charm her. Anyhow, there are really only 453.592.