tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post8784661882956484074..comments2024-01-06T00:28:45.062+08:00Comments on Bibliobibuli: Lexical Choicesbibliobibulihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-80215419028793208932007-12-17T07:35:00.000+08:002007-12-17T07:35:00.000+08:00you impressed me, made me laugh and delighted me a...you impressed me, made me laugh and delighted me all in one, mm. a sunday well spent.bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-28185198031034154202007-12-16T22:49:00.000+08:002007-12-16T22:49:00.000+08:00"I will go read the links" -- indeed, an illocutio..."I will go read the links" -- indeed, an illocutionary act right there... and the perlocutionary result being my assumption that your Sunday is spent--as mine--gamboling in the hinterland of the English lexicon, then descending to the chthonian world of semiotics, trying words on and languidly shedding them to paper like an ecdysiast.<BR/><BR/>Fun, no? These flights of literary funambulism? I have in mind also Coleridge's "prose is words in the best order; poetry is the best words in the best order", and here is Billy Collins' "Idiomatic":<BR/><BR/>It is a big question to pose so early in the morning<BR/>or “in the light woven by birds,”<BR/>as the Estonians say,<BR/>but still I must ask what is my place in life?<BR/>my “seat on the invisible train”,<BR/>as they say in Hungary.<BR/>I mean I am just sitting here<BR/>in a lawn chair listening to a thrush,<BR/>“the little entertainer of the woods”,<BR/>as the Swiss call him,<BR/>while out there in the world<BR/>mobs of people are rushing over bridges<BR/>in and out of cities?<BR/>Vegetables grow heavy in their fields,<BR/>clouds fly across the “face of the earth”<BR/>as we call it in English,<BR/>and sometimes rockets lift off in the distance –<BR/>and I mean that quite literally,<BR/>“from the top of the table” as the Portuguese have it,<BR/>real rockets rising from the horizon,<BR/>or “the big line”, if you’re an Australian,<BR/>leaving behind rich gowns of exhaust smoke,<BR/>long, smooth trajectories,<BR/>and always the ocean below,<BR/>“the water machine” as the South Sea islanders put it –<BR/>everything takes place right on schedule,<BR/>“by the clock of the devil”,<BR/>as our grandparents were fond of saying.<BR/>And still here I sit with my shirt off,<BR/>the dog at my side, daydreaming –<BR/>“juggling balls of cotton”, as they like to say in France. <BR/><BR/>I'm just rambling, I know, having a quiet day at home, amusing myself with things etymological... and this ineffable quality of language...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-21957183040608610602007-12-16T11:16:00.000+08:002007-12-16T11:16:00.000+08:00yes, preeta,it struck me too reading cormac mccart...yes, preeta,it struck me too reading cormac mccarthy and also annie proulx.<BR/><BR/>terrazzo i think is actually coming back into fashion here i think as people get nostalgic ... <BR/><BR/>david - thanks so much for the link to the great poem! i am also very happy to have found your blog.<BR/><BR/>nice quote mm, and i will go read the links. in linguistics we talk about the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act" REL="nofollow">illocutionary force</A> of an act which may be something similar?bibliobibulihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456636355933524132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-82095637791385159382007-12-16T08:45:00.000+08:002007-12-16T08:45:00.000+08:00Great! Now that we know of abscissae we must also ...Great! Now that we know of abscissae we must also know of ordinates, and it seems like an opportunity to slip in links of tangential nature!<BR/><BR/>All this lexicographical bushwhacking reminds me of David Foster Wallace's essay on a subject of orthogonal relation, "Authority and American Usage" in <I>Consider The Lobster</I> (previously published as <A HREF="http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/DFW_present_tense.html" REL="nofollow">"Tense Present"</A>, which I urge you to read in order to appreciate the delicious irony of <A HREF="http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000510.php" REL="nofollow">the bashing it subsequently received on <I>Language Hat</I></A>), in particular, this paragraph:<BR/><BR/><I>When I say or write something, there are actually a whole lot of different things I am communicating. The propositional content (the actual information I'm trying to convey) is only one part of it. Another part is stuff about me, the communicator. Everyone knows this. It's a function of the fact that there are uncountably many well-formed ways to say the same basic thing, from e.g. "I was attacked by a bear!" to "Goddamn bear tried to kill me!" to "That ursine juggernaut bethought to sup upon my person!" and so on. And different levels of diction and formality are only the simplest kinds of distinction; things get way more complicated in the sorts of interpersonal communication where social relations and feelings and moods come into play. Here's a familiar sort of example. Suppose that you and I are acquaintances and we're in my apartment having a conversation and that at some point I want to terminate the conversation and not have you be in my apartment anymore. Very delicate social moment. Think of all the different ways I can try to handle it: "Wow, look at the time"; "Could we finish this up later?"; "Could you please leave now?"; "Go"; "Get out"; "Get the hell out of here"; "Didn't you say you had to be someplace?"; "Time for you to hit the dusty trail, my friend"; "Off you go then, love"; or that sly old telephone-conversation ender: "Well, I'm going to let you go now"; etc. And then think of all the different factors and implications of each option.</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-86004107004999442072007-12-16T02:22:00.000+08:002007-12-16T02:22:00.000+08:00An interesting post. Put me in mind of Henry Reed'...An interesting post. Put me in mind of <A HREF="http://www.solearabiantree.net/namingofparts/judgingdistances.html" REL="nofollow">Henry Reed's Judging Distances</A>.<BR/><BR/>David King<BR/>http://picsandpoems.blogspot.comDave Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430484174826768488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912730.post-20309062664626151152007-12-16T01:38:00.000+08:002007-12-16T01:38:00.000+08:00You know, I've often noticed this about American f...You know, I've often noticed this about American fiction and poetry -- they know so many words for *things*! I also feel Americans in general ask a lot of questions about their physical environment -- when we have visitors they're always asking the names of plants and geographic formations. The American poets I know are so interested in science and geography and yes, concrete objects. It's always made me feel so narrow in my scope -- my words are all for actions and feelings. I'm glad you posted this so that I could learn it's not just me!<BR/><BR/>- Preeta<BR/><BR/>P.S. I still like terrazzo flooring better than most of the "more sophisticated" options, with the notable exception of real hardwood, which I love.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com