The very reason i can express with the nude figure what can be understood universally by all, in endless ways.
ab On Dec 11, 2012, at 11:30 AM, Michael Brady wrote: > I like to do tough crossword puzzles, especially Tte big, 250-word NYT Sunday > puzzles edited by Will Shortz. He writes very clever and convoluted clues. > > Some of Shortz's clues have only one answer, e.g. "Tinkers to Evers to > ______." Others rely on word play and misdirection. They are sneaky, and some > are very sneaky. What is "Notes from short people"? Who would refer to people > as "short"? Isn't that insensitive? What are the notes, a musical term? > Stickies? Things slipped between students in school? Then I got it: IOUs. > "Short people" = people who can't cover a debt. > > My point: When I can't figure out the clue, that occurs because the meaning, > i.e., what I am thinking of, doesn't jibe with the clue. Or its degree of > jibeness is too iffy, too tenuous, too *unconvincing.* > > Cheerskep harps on the thought that is in my head, the answer, ultimately "the > meaning" of the clue. (I think my story of crossword clues is a perfect > analogy to what he is worried about.) I am harping on how the jibing occurs, > how I know whether my answer suffices or whether it is an imprecise or > improbable fit. > > William referred to "shared interpretations," which is similar to > Wittgenstein's use in a language community. I want to examine and wrassle with > the idea of how the inanimate thing preserves a way of signaling a notion to > others remote in distance, time, and culture. > > BTW, Cheerskep often rails against "the" meaning of a word, and the examples > he gives are all nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. These are the four > categories of English words that are open, that easily admit new words. Three > other categories--prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions--are not open to new > additions. They are function words and are used to connect words from the > first four groups together in generally comprehensible statements. > > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady
