OK, but we rely on conventional meanings, recognizing that they are modified by the words and their contexts. It's obvious that words don't say. There's no need to be pedantic. I agree that most colloquialisms are somewhat illogical but their uses are normalized. In contrast, I could insist that anything we say or do or think resides in our continually changing or modifying our beliefs and imaginative, metaphorical projections, and if I did proclaim that with every utterance of my own or of others there's be little to do but be mute in the midst of chaos. In other words, cognition is essentially guesswork and make-believe, more or less validated by experience. wc
--- On Sat, 6/27/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: marks > To: [email protected] > Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009, 12:16 PM > In a message dated 6/26/09 8:01:14 > PM, [email protected] > writes: > > > > I think we need to remind ourselves that what the > words say is one thing, > > what the author intends them to convey is another. we > can't use either to > > justify the other. > > > Behind the great majority of the uses of the phrase, "what > the words say is > one thing", it's likely there is profoundly confused > thinking. > > I've come to see that it would take a short book to convey > to most people > the truth behind this line: Words don't "say" anything. > They are > sounds/scriptions that have by juxtaposition with notions > (ideas, images, feelings, etc) > become associated with those notions in our minds. They > don't "say" those > notions. > > No two of us have identical remembered experience. So, what > notion arises > in my mind when I hear a given word depends on notion > associated with my > hearing/reading the word in my past. If you utter/write to > me the words "Eiffel > Tower", what comes to my mind will be roughly similar to > what's in yours. > But when you utter/write "metaphor", "as-if", or "Chicago", > my mind's > associated notion will be wildly different from yours. > > I'm not sure what you're after with the phrase "we can't > use either to > justify the other", so I'll have no response to it. > > > > ************** > Make your summer sizzle with fast and easy recipes for the > > grill. (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000006)
