In a message dated 10/17/08 4:06:25 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> On Oct 17, 2008, at 3:15 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > The list grows longer. After today's postings it's now:
> >
> > gift
> > talent
> > aptitude
> > skill
> > capacity
> > craft
> >
> > The question I was asking was, in effect, does any lister feel that
> > he could prescribe different notions for each of these words?
>
> "Could"? Does? Can? Why the note of probability or conditionality?
>
I admit 'Can' would serve as well there. The conditionality was simply my
conceding that someone mightg say, "Yeah, I could do that, but I've got better
things to do. Don't bother me."
>
> > prescribe
>
> "Prescribe"? Assign? Evoke?
>
What I was after was this: Go down the list and "define" each one as you
would like to see them used, that is, describe the notion you think it would
be
useful for everyone to have in mind when they use or read the word.
> > different notions for each of these words?
>
> Okay, Mister Smarty Notion: What does "different" summon up in your
> mind in this context? Does any degree of differentiation constitute a
> difference (or as the saying goes, can there be a mere "distinction
> without a difference")? Does a generic difference between, say,
> "talent" and "brick" denote a greater range or span than a difference
> within a category, such as between "talent" and "aptitude"? If so,
> would you say that one's linguistic faculty uses a sequential range of
> generalities, within which related word-notions are grouped, some of
> which signify nested relationships and other of which indicate
> equivalent terms?
>
I'd say my notions of "talent" and "aptitude" are more associated in my mind
than my notions of "talent" and "brick" -- e.g they both involve potential
action -- but the "degree" of difference feels bootless to try to quantify. I
don't see any "sequential" aspect. Associations certainly seem to "cluster" in
the mind. The "nests" are mind-created; they are in effect "categories" --
which, my mantra goes, are entirely notional, there are no non-mental
entities,
"cagtegories". Etcetera.
>
> > (Notice: I claim only muddled thinking leads one to ask the
> > questions in the
> > form, "What IS talent?" "What IS craft?" etc. The very form of that
> > question
> > "reifies": It erroneously assumes it's not a question of language
> > usage ("This
> > is what I call 'craft' etc") but of what it "really is", and now
> > it's our job
> > to go discover what craft "really is".)
> >
> > Would you say there's overlap (for you) in some of the notions?
> > Would you say
> > you use some of them synonymously, interchangeably? In a fairly
> > rigorous
> > philosophic discussion, it's wise to sacrifice the felicity of
> > avoiding
> > repetition of the same word again and again. Banish one of any pair
> > of "synonymous"
> > words. Use the same word each time you want to occasion the same
> > notion in
> > your reader.
>
> "Why does anyone choose one word instead of another "of similar
> meaning"? Doesn't this point to the crux of everything you've posted,
> namely, that different words evoke different responses (notions,
> cherished feelings, even 'meanings')?"
>
Different words summon up different associations. If you want to term the
associations a word occasions in your mind its "meaning for you", be your
guest.
As long as you don't talk about "THE meaning" of a damn thing -- word,
phrase, sentence, scene, poem, novel, play, painting, dance, the Eiffel Tower,
the
Taj Mahal.
>
> And why stop with discrete words? Why not go to the full linguistic
> expression, namely, sentences and larger utterances?
>
There -- I just did that for you. But in fact, in earlier postings I've
occasionally explicitly said the likes of "I'll hereafter use the word 'word'
in
place off all those things that others want to call 'signs' -- a term far too
both muddled and ambiguous for me."
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