It would be impossible to convey the precise meaning of any single word of one person to any other and of course each further description only adds to diversity of specific meaning.
Thursday 23 September 2010
Brown
My brown is not your brown.
All words have a distinct meaning which is different for each and every individual. That meaning includes a multitude of memories and associations each one unique to the person hearing or reading the word.
It would be impossible to convey the precise meaning of any single word of one person to any other and of course each further description only adds to diversity of specific meaning.
It would be impossible to convey the precise meaning of any single word of one person to any other and of course each further description only adds to diversity of specific meaning.
Friday 10 September 2010
Thursday 9 September 2010
Library Posters
My local library had a series of posters on a notice board recently, they showed the good-old carbon footprint and contained homely advice on how you could & should go green and reduce your carbon emissions.
To be fair, whoever had put them at the library obviously wasn't entirely convinced of the accuracy of the man-made climate change nonsense and had placed them on the back of a (no-)notice board placed at an angle where they could be viewed only by the few unfortunates forced to take the remaining free computers stuck in a seedy corner of the main room.
Regardless, I thought I would make my own :)
To be fair, whoever had put them at the library obviously wasn't entirely convinced of the accuracy of the man-made climate change nonsense and had placed them on the back of a (no-)notice board placed at an angle where they could be viewed only by the few unfortunates forced to take the remaining free computers stuck in a seedy corner of the main room.
Regardless, I thought I would make my own :)
The word is not the thing
An important concept this one and it is of course rather odd to be using a tool against its very self but that is the all pervasive nature of words and language, in that no real acknowledged alternative exists that can perfom the role of words and languages to anywhere near the same level.
However, we must realise as soon as we can that the very use of words leads us into a particular way of thinking. A word, especially a name for something, separates at once the very thing it is labelling. We then view our newly labelled item as a separate object essentially divorced from its surroundings and context.
When we have named someone or something, it allows us to specifically target that person or thing completely apart from everything else that could be said to constitute the very nature of all that makes the item or person.
However, we must realise as soon as we can that the very use of words leads us into a particular way of thinking. A word, especially a name for something, separates at once the very thing it is labelling. We then view our newly labelled item as a separate object essentially divorced from its surroundings and context.
When we have named someone or something, it allows us to specifically target that person or thing completely apart from everything else that could be said to constitute the very nature of all that makes the item or person.
Monday 6 September 2010
Cumuppence
There has been a steady tradition of stories which involve the concept of a villain or villains getting their 'cumuppence'. Either through some form of divine intervention or cosmic irony, the wrong-doer will be undone and receive appropriate punishment and the victim will be avenged.
This idea manifests itself in the notion of 'karma' or as a day of judgement before their maker. Both of these of course could be decribed as revenge by proxy - you personally as a victim are not directly involved in the provision of justice but are merely a by-stander watching justice unfold.
My own thought is that this form of revenge is not particularly satisfying and that if I were a crook, the notions of karma or divine retribution are quite laughable and could provide a sort of "don't throw me into the briar patch whatever you do!" mentality.
This idea manifests itself in the notion of 'karma' or as a day of judgement before their maker. Both of these of course could be decribed as revenge by proxy - you personally as a victim are not directly involved in the provision of justice but are merely a by-stander watching justice unfold.
My own thought is that this form of revenge is not particularly satisfying and that if I were a crook, the notions of karma or divine retribution are quite laughable and could provide a sort of "don't throw me into the briar patch whatever you do!" mentality.
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