Actually Dan - it is and always has been a serious joke, with (I think) a wonderful internal contradiction. If you were really prepared to be surprised, you couldn't be surprised... or could you J
ho Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) Camden, Maine 04843 Phone 301-365-2093 (summer) 207-763-3261 www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org From: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Mezick Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2013 9:18 AM To: oslist@lists.openspacetech.org Subject: [OSList] : Speech acts When responding to Jenifer's thoughts earlier, I realized: The slogan "Be Prepared to Be Surprised" is a most interesting one in OST. It is actually an illocutionary speech act.... of type "Directive". So, located here in OST, baked into it, we have a specific slogan that is attempting to cause the hearer to take a particular action, e.g. a request, commands and advice. A directive! I wonder if the undeniably directive structure of "Be Prepared to Be Surprised" really aligned with the intention/spirit/philosophy of OST. Dan Background links: What is a speech act? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts A speech act in linguistics <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics> and the philosophy of language <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language> is an utterance that has performative function in language and communication. What is an illocutionary act? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act Illocutionary act is a term in linguistics <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics> introduced by the philosopher John L. Austin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin> in his investigation of the various aspects of speech acts <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts> . What is a Directive illocutionary act? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts directives = speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action, e.g. requests, commands and advice More than you asked for: What is a Commissive speech act? commissives = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action, e.g. promises and oaths On 10/24/13 1:29 PM, Jenifer Toksvig wrote: Dan wrote: >> Consider the man who loves a certain woman, and waits for the current trend of her interest in him to change. He is goal seeking without controlling. Likewise, trend-following market traders do not attempt to create, control or make trends. They simply identify & ride them, while seeking wealth. << Waiting and seeking are still forms of controlling. Your loving man has chosen to wait for his goal rather than (to coin a phrase) being prepared to be surprised by another woman. He may not be trying to control her, but he's still trying to control the situation in a way that he thinks will allow him to achieve his goal. Those who seek wealth do likewise: they don't randomly ride the trends, they identify them and make choices about how to ride them, in order to obtain wealth. That is control. I don't think it's possible to be goal-oriented and try to exert some kind of control over the process, unless your goal is. to have no goal. Actually, even being prepared to be surprised is a goal. A sort of wonderfully ridiculous one. Jen x Jenifer Toksvig www.acompletelossforwords.com The Copenhagen Interpretation www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org -- Daniel Mezick, President New Technology Solutions Inc. (203) 915 7248 (cell) Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/> . <http://newtechusa.net/blog/> Blog. <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/> Twitter. Examine my new book: <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/> The Culture Game : Tools for the Agile Manager. Explore Agile Team <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> Training and <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/> Coaching. Explore the <http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/> Agile Boston Community.
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