In the most recent issue of the RSA* journal is an article by Paul Robertson, titled
Why does music affect people as it does?

The discussion uses the example of a man who lost the use of the left side of his brain and could no longer speak or write, but could play music as beautifully as ever. Paul Robertson contrasts this with the experience of another who lost the use of his right brain, could still speak and write, but only mechanistically – without any feeling.

In what respect does language matter most for you: sense or sensibility?



* Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce

PS: “The RSA Journal and publications promote the Society's research, ideas and activities to the outside world. They aim to record ideas, provoke debate and stimulate action.

The RSA publications web site illustrates the breadth and depth of the RSA's work.”

Unfortunately the whole website also tends to load at the speed of cold porridge dropping off a rusty spoon.

http:// http://www.rsa.org.uk/default.html

Oh, maverick! What a dilemma you've posed!

Of course language has to be able to get information across. How else would Jo & Co. have been able to navigate Russian cities without getting lost?

But since your question only lets us pick one of the two options, I have to say that I have to go with feelings.
I need warmth, not just cold, hard facts. Plus, I have always been an intuitive person. (All right, I hear those comments about no wonder she's so irrational, dang it!)
Even in something as factual as algebra, I was always getting marked down because I would often be able to get to the right answer, but have difficulty in showing the step-by-step process as to how I got there. I just knew it.

at the speed of cold porridge dropping off a rusty spoon.

Thanks for the imagery - sense and sensibility! I'm shamelessly greedy, I expect both. I suppose clarity of communication comes first, but it's a photo-finish, with aesthetics just a picasecond behind.

In what respect does language matter most for you: sense or sensibility?
..It depends on whether I speak/listen to myself or to others -
more seriously: I don't believe in this separability of terms. In order to understand another's utterings, I need to be at least minimally interested in it. And this in turn requires a certain emotional stimulus. I am very skeptical about this right/left brain stuff that crops up periodically.

Hi mav:

There are also some fascinating examples of the importance of music to patients with neurological diseases in Oliver Sacks's "The man who mistook his wife for a hat".

> In what respect does language matter most for you: sense or sensibility?

Nonsense and sensibility.

hat... nonsense

Yes, love that reference paulb. And avy, I think you are coming close to what reading that quote at the head got me reflecting on: that although I like to *think of myself as perhaps first and foremost a logical being, and that my interest in language springs from this root, in actual fact it could well be the euphony of language that is most central to my pattern-making. That, in short, however logical and precise, language might have no meaning for me without music in its soul.

Of course, you-all are right - it's a false dichotomy - but
"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing...!"

Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce

Is this a real agency, mav? It puts me in mind of the
Far Side cartoon showing a dilapidated building, on which the sign reads something like, "Bob's Fill Dirt
and Croissants".

>It puts me in mind of the Far Side cartoon showing a dilapidated building, on which the sign reads something like, "Bob's Fill Dirt and Croissants".<

I always liked the NPR catalog's (wireless) ad for a tee shirt from "Bob's Sushi and Bait" -somewhere in Lake woebegone i think.

The far side was wonderful-- there was an exhibit at American Mus. of Natural History-- mostly with bugs, dinosaures and animal cartoons, but being NY, they exhibit included the "Crises Center" (the building is on fire, being washed down river, toward the falls!)

And just to demonstrate how “a propos” The Far Side is...my Far Side block calendar informs us that on November 14th, 1937 Spam was introduced to the world.

Sense or sensibility, hmmmm.

For spoken language; I would say sensibility over sense. If you’ve ever listened to anyone talk in a monotone without any inflection or emotion you will know what I mean. It is seriously dull and hard to follow. It does depend on the context though. If you are reporting an accident you have just witnessed – get to the point and quick.

As to written language; for business documentation I tend stick to the sense side. A report on sales does not require any extra flourishes, and the overall understanding of the data can be hindered by it. Mind you, marketing involves a lot of sensibility. On the personal side…I would like to say sensibility but even though I tend to put more emotion into my writing I do make a point of making sense.

Arrrghh…I guess I can’t really separate the two, and both are important overall.