In a number of cases, the program behaves in a way that could be considered idiosyncratic, peculiar, or simply wrong. Some of these cases are admittedly bugs or shortcomings of the program. Others are inevitable consequences of what the program is trying to do.
The syntax, semantics, and general structure of the square dance calling language is fairly regular and precise--much more so than, for example, the English language. That is, the correspondence between dancer actions and verbal phrases is fairly regular. However, there are exceptions. A very simple example of this is the fact that callers generally say `quarter top' and `half the top', using the word "the" in one case but not the other.
The program handles these exceptions by calling in an occasionally stilted but unambiguous computer-ese dialect. This dialect is intended to be very close to the words you would use when calling, but it is sometimes different. The rationale for this is that it is too hard to make the program always use the words that a caller would use. When writing sequences, be aware that the dancers do not necessarily know this computer-ese dialect. Use the words that you think are correct and natural. Your judgement is much better than any program's judgement can ever be.
The program sometimes requires you to say various helper words, such
as left in cases where their necessity is not universally
agreed upon. For example, from a left-handed quarter-tag, Sd
will not accept scoot and plenty---you are required to enter
left scoot and plenty, even though the Callerlab definition does
not require the word left in this case. What helper words you
use or don't use when calling is, of course, up to you.
There are some innocent-looking things that the program can generate for which appropriate words do not exist. You must not write sequences containing such things, because you won't be able to call them. For example, from boy-boy-girl-girl waves, it is perfectly straightforward for a caller to say `boys hinge'. From boy-girl-boy-girl waves, `boys hinge' is meaningless, but the program accepts `boys do your part, hinge'. It doesn't know that this is an unacceptable thing to call. Don't do it.
In general, if you don't think you can clearly express to the dancers what you want, don't call it.
A number of concepts are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon.
Examples are precede it by, follow it by, the fractional
concepts like 1/2, 1-1/2, and 3 times, and
the calls that designate certain people. See section Designating Certain People.
Callers often use phrases such as `finish ...' or `like a ...' in imprecise ways. Sd uses a very precise definition for these phrases. See section Miscellaneous Concepts.
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