--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <authfriend@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Although it hasn't been appearing with the regularity it once > > did, regulars at the jazz club in cyberspace called Fairfield > > Life have probably grown familiar with the term "Non-sequitur!," > > hurled at some other poster as if it were an insult of the > > highest order. > > I wonder why Barry thinks it's meant as an insult. > > > The Latin term non-sequitur technically means, "That which does > > not follow." > > > > What it means when hurled as an epithet is, in my opinion, > > "Wait. I am unable to follow you. You went too fast or too > > far afield, and I was unable to keep up." > > I'd be surprised if anybody uses it to mean this. > > > Taking a metaphor from the world of jazz, > > Not an applicable metaphor where debate is concerned. > The more appropriate metaphor would be a classical > duet in which one musician suddenly begins to play in > a different key from the other, or even to play an > entirely different piece. That would be the musical > equivalent of a non sequitur. > > In debate, a non sequitur is often used in an attempt > to throw the discussion off track, usually to avoid > having to respond to a challenge. Other times a non > sequitur can represent a lack of comprehension of the > issues involved. > > On FFL, we don't really have the equivalent of the > members of the Heaven's Greatest Jazz Band. But if > we did, one might propose a different analogy: The > band has invited a less experienced player to sit in. > Coltrane plays a melody and hands off to this player, > who proceeds to improvise up a storm. The band > members stare at him in disgust because instead of > using Coltrane's melody as the basis of his > improvisation, he's substituted his own. > > From an earlier post of Barry's: > > "And I don't have any vested interest in proving any of my > opinions 'right' or 'better.' They are what they are -- > opinions. As with assholes, everybody's got one, and none > of them are any cleaner or less smelly than any other." > > This is actually not the case. It's just an excuse for > thoughtless, sloppy, lazy, shallow, uninformed, and even > malicious opining, as well as a stance that rejects any > accountability for what one says.
It could also mean Barry doesn't like the smell of his own asshole, but then there is a difference between that and a hole in the ground. (Did I just say all this? I think I better go and recite a couple Hail Mary's. And it's Sunday too.) > > > > > > > > it's like being offered the > > opportunity to sit in with Heaven's Greatest Jazz Band. You plug in your > > axe, wait your turn, and then fire off your best melody. Even as you're > > playing it, Jaco Pastorius "gets" what you're saying so much he adds a > > bass line to it. Then John Coltrane takes your basic melody and mutates > > it, turning it into something even more magnificent. And then he "hands > > off" to Miles Davis, who rocks back on his heels and plays with the > > elegance of a musical Hemingway, taking the basic melody and not only > > re-expressing it in its primal essence, but then taking the melody and > > spinning it off into worlds previously undreamed of. Then Miles turns to > > you and smiles, and "hands off" back to you. > > > > And you stop the music and say, "Wait. WTF was that? I couldn't follow > > that! What have you done to my original idea? I insist that you go back > > and listen to it again, and then respond to it the way it *should* be > > played!" > > > > Just sayin'... > > >
