Cheerskep, you're talking to the choir. I can't recall anyone here disagreeing with the notion that words require a context and that context needs to be reasonably matched in the heads of at least two people in any successful communication. I think you often conclude too quickly that folks are not agreeing with that very fundamental 'linguistics 101' reality.
I just read a funny page in Proust where an archaeologist expert in ancient Sumerian artifacts cried whenever he saw a genuine piece but didn't cry when he saw a fake. No one -- not even he -- could figure out how he could otherwise tell the fake from the real but the antiquarians and museums always bought the stuff he cried over and rejected the stuff that left him dry-eyed. We would like to know if you cry when we use words properly. No other explanations needed. wc ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, January 19, 2013 5:58:48 PM Subject: Re: wake up In a message dated 1/19/13 5:44:11 PM, [email protected] writes: > I would appreciate Cheerskep being more mindful of the audience he's > addressing > here, an educated and articulate audience, not a group of dummies. And he > could > be funnier, too. > I am mindful of the sophistication of our forum roster, William. At various times in the past I've remarked about how much our listers know that I don't. That makes for enjoyment for me. As you can infer, I'm not without ego, but the best times I have at dinner gatherings are when I'm surrounded by people who know things I don't. But -- and this I've also said before on the forum -- there may be an area where I'm more experienced than others on the forum, made more knowledgeable not necessarily by any virtue other than an extensive nerdy reading -- and that's in philosophy of language, of mind, and ontology. This has led me to believe I was perceiving that very often listers were talking past each other because of slip ups like using the same word without having in mind the same notion. I'd almost yelp with alarm and eagerness to clear things up at least to some extent For all that, I take no joy in needlessly and fecklessly pissing people off, so I'll back off this sort of thing. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not sulking away to brood, "They'll be sorry!" style. I'll be around; just no more school Marm stuff. Besides, I figure Berg needs someone on the forum who is gratified to receive one or two out of every ten or so quotes he posts. And I'll work on being funnier.
