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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
what about typos? are they words, or merely (mis)representations of words?
At first sight, they are words ok, after all, a gnarled tree is still a tree. In the case of words, it's the intention that counts. And even correctly spelled words are essentially representations, so the difference does not warrant an additional level of "representationness".
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 247
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 247 |
Please refrain from using words to explain your ideas on this. Thanks.I enjoyed that, jheem. Nicely done.  But, as we both know, neither ideas nor words built the pyramids or sent mankind to the moon. Yet, within the arc of these triumphant accomplishments, we both of us know that ideas are pre-eminent. I simply put words in their proper place in the continuum - somewhere in between the conception of the idea, presumably in a blaze of revelatory passion, and the execution of the idea. Words divorced from a seminal idea are simply gibberish or, perhaps, a stream of consciousness. By themselves, they are not even "bricks". They are pebbles thrown up in a thrashing tide, certainly nothing to arouse anyone to action. And let us not forget passion and conviction - passion which is neither an idea nor a word, but raw emotion - the fuel which will blast the triumphant idea into reality. As the poet said: "Nothing great is accomplished without passion." If words by themselves were all that Amemeba has claimed them to be, albeit in a dazzle of swashbuckling verbosity, then Jackie Gleason would have the credit for sending the first person to the moon. "To the moon, Alice!"
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
But, as we both know, neither ideas nor words built the pyramids or sent mankind to the moon. Yet, within the arc of these triumphant accomplishments, we both of us know that ideas are pre-eminent. I simply put words in their proper place in the continuum - somewhere in between the conception of the idea, presumably in a blaze of revelatory passion, and the execution of the idea.
Reminds me of the line from the Peter Gabriel song "Mercy Street"
all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream in somebody's head
(Gabriel dedicates that song to Anne Sexton. I am not familiar enough with her work to know if his lyric is itself a reference to one of her poems.)
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Posts: 89
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 89 |
Shellb said in part : The word *love* whether written or spoken (or shot out of a cannon for that matter) symbolises different things to everybody.For better or worse Shellb, that's the truth. But so does the term "apple" or "snowski" or "dipstick". Such is the interaction between man and words that no word has exactly the same meaning each time we use it. Pity. This audacious statement brings to the fore that, underlying the present dispute we have the classic deep rift between idealists and realists. Only an attempt to bridge the gap can advance our understanding. Ideas, by themselves, are about as powerless to build a pyramid, as the DNA is to grow a baby.As a mind game, wsieber, let us consider the Universe as determinist. Notice how the environment inputs the individual biological unit towards communal behavior through the exchange of information that is pertinent to the breeding group's continuance. In bees this transfer is effected visually and by smell and touch by the pollen-laden returning bee's dance. In human beings it is done with words. ( Now hold that thought) Hey jheem, notice that wsieber used the term "audacious".
Please detail the process involved in signing that quality. Then wordminstrel got uppity and said... I simply put words in their proper place in the continuum - somewhere in between the conception of the idea, presumably in a blaze of revelatory passion, and the execution of the idea. Notice now, wsieber, that Wordminstrel, a romantic of the old school, has a total misconception about the nature of an idea. He refuses to accept the notion that a new "idea" is much like tsuwm's misspelled words, i.e. a mistake in symbolic association. ( Rexembxr txe fulx pagx lxtter thax wxs pasxed xbout ox thx intxrnex xith mxxspellxd woxds thxoughout txe messxge, yxt exeryxne whx rexd thxm fouxd thxm exsy xo rxad.?) See...if this form of misspelling had a imediate cultural function it would be called a good idea and would quickly be incorporated into the cultural bag of survival tricks. But happily, most original ideas are just bad mistakes, and time-honored social mechanisms are in place to deal with them harshly. So wsieber, if what we call "matter" can be conceptualized as merely tiny whorls of empty space, then words can certainty be thought of as concrete objects with evolutionary function. And they are.
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member
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member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133 |
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm---
uuuuuuh---
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Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm---
uuuuuuh---
Excellent, then we are agreed.
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Joined: Oct 2001
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 247 |
words can certainty be thought of as concrete objects with evolutionary functionHow did we make the leap from "bricks" to "concrete", Amemeba? Makes me wonder why the Pharoahs didn't build their pyramids out of concrete instead of stone. They certainly had enough sand for the job. If what we call "matter" really isn't "matter", then I can agree words are made of concrete. I suppose it doesn't really matter if words are matter or not matter. It's what they say that really matters ... wouldn't you say, Amemeba?
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Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
But so does the term "apple" or "snowski" or "dipstick"
Appel, Snowski and Dipstick is a law firm in Seattle, with a German partner, a Polish partner, and an English partner ... all of whom do the law of intellectual property.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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>the law of intellectual property
no need for that around here. nope.
-joe (just the factoids) friday
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
The law of intellectual property is generally held to comprise the laws of patents, trademarks and copyrights. My prof in law school said it was the law of "weightless property."
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