Nov 01
eldonsuitable quotations meaning, metaphor
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – – that’s all.”
(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 6)
…pondering the proliferation of words which mean so many more different things than they used to.
Jul 14
eldonlanguage and culture identity, intertextuality, knowledge, meaning
my research for the common implications for the title of the midnight oil song, lead me to the original book of the almost same name, by noted geologist, J.W. Gregory, who made an expedition to Lake Eyre and surrounding districts in 1901.
google books did not have a review of the book, but google did provide me with a link to a wonderful online copy courtesy of openlibrary.org.
and, they _share_
furthermore, and most interestingly, if not ironically, his account begins with a chapter which describes the originary stories of the region as told by the local aborigines, who describe creatures called the Kadimakara who used to come down from the firmament of clouds which used to be supported by three very large gum trees. when these died or were killed, the other trees in the area also began to thin, and the sky opened up completely into what they called the ‘puri wilpenina’…
our recent trip there was in the air-conditioned comfort of a 4WD, in winter.
an image for you:
Nov 15
eldongeneral observations, lexico-grammar meaning
series of tweets advertising a discussion, the exact meaning of which was unclear to me:
Tune in to Crikey Live at 12.30pm today. @BernardKeane, @BarrettBrownLOL & @mpesce will discuss the War on the Internet http://bit.ly/sNoP34
i want to know whether that is the war ON the internet (in which case i’d be interested), or
the War [on the internet] (in which case i’d not).
so, maybe they should see if a Circumstance can be moved.
like, “On the internet, live at 12.30 pm today,@BernardKeane, @BarrettBrownLOL & @mpesce will discuss the War.”
but of course, even without grammar, we can use our brains, right?
i mean, which ‘war’ are we talking about here?
when someone uses presuming reference, then there must only be one item being referred to that we are all aware of.
so, as this is not the case wrt wars all over the place these days, it must not be one of those geographically-located wars with people getting killed and so on.
also, why say they’d be discussing anything on the internet? when it is clear where they’d be discussing it anyway. nobody says ‘on the internet’ in a tweet to remind people that the discussion will not take place, say, on the radio, or on t.v. or in a newspaper.
so, i’ve answered my question, and i should tune in.
except, i was not aware there was a war on the internet.
is there? who is waging it? why?
clearly, i am in need of information.
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