Ah, someone noticed
First off, before anyone gets burned at the stake, let it be known that, as far as I'm concerned, both the 13 and 14 word versions are "canonical." The "sometimes" is always there -- it's just implicit in the shorter version. We're all Sometimesians, just explicit or implicit ones. Think of it sort of like the different versions of the Lord's prayer in Luke and Matthew.
Why on earth did I change this?
Well, for one thing, the 13 word version actually preceded the book. It's not a complete innovation. It's been kicking around the website in a number of places for ages -- like the main page of this bulletin board. Like in the listing for the no s diet in the yahoo directory. I'm not sure if this was intentional, I (and they) probably just forgot it --- but that's sort of the point. It's the easiest to forget word, and what really changes if you leave it out?
Don't get me wrong, I agonized a great deal over that "sometimes." But ultimately the arguments against it carried the day -- at least for the book. I didn't want to change anything under the feet of existing website-inspired nosdieters (I just greyed out the sometimes on the homepage to subtly suggest its ambiguous status).
Arguments against explicit "sometimes"
1. Logically unnecessary -- OF COURSE you shouldn't eat snacks, sweets and seconds "all the time" on S days.
2. Less concise.
Arguments for explicit "sometimes"
1. 13 words may be shorter than 14, but it's sort of a creepy number. Not that I'm superstitious about such things, but it makes it harder to emphasize the brevity of the diet by quoting the word count because, well, 13 just doesn't sound quite right, even though it's shorter. It's almost a matter of aesthetics. Also the number 14 has special everyday systems significance -- 14 minutes of schedualistically insignificant time, etc.
2. An
extensive body of interpretive literature has build up around the "sometimes" around the years here on the bulletin board. Perhaps precisely because the word didn't clearly add anything in itself, it gave people an valuable opening for their own ideas. It seems like almost every week someone posts a new midrash on "sometimes."
3. While it may not be logically necessary, it can be a helpful reminder. If we were completely logical we wouldn't need this diet to begin with.
It was a pretty close call. But the shorter and fewer nays turned out to be more compelling, as far as the book was concerned. I do mention the "sometimes" version in the book, so book readers who never make it to the site still do have the opportunity to see if that extra reminder resonates with them.
Reinhard
P.S. I had originally intended to announce this change up front to the bulletin board, but I'm glad I waited: this was vastly more amusing -- thank you, Steve (et al.).