Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 3 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Hello, tsuwm...

I clicked on your link to Fussell and ended up on the first page of this thread... (Makes me think my computer did a bob...three curves and a twiddle. Gosh! Am I going to enjoy dropping that one, if not ironically, certainly whimsically!)

Back to stochastically: wwh, I like hearing terms from science transferred to other fields! Even though I don't understand the physics of the draft effect in racing, its essence is easily transferred to those situations in which the efforts of two bodies are increased to such an extent that neither could have accomplished what the two could have alone. And so on. In Faldage's case, even if stochastic hadn't been used heretofore rhetorically, there's calculated resonance in his application here and even ironic resonance by doing so: definition of what irony isn't by inculcation of a numerical application. At least so it seems to me with my subjective, dull understanding of irony.

Best regards,
WW


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
regarding the link: I think i fixed it -- too many windows open I guess.

regarding stochastic - yet more complaining about the transferral of sense, in this case misapplied because the *original* sense of stochastic (from the Greek root meaning "to aim at a mark, guess") is to aim at a mark, guess.
this was "borrowed" for technical use in science and music, only to be claimed anew by the foi-poloi[sic].


Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
tsuwm: I misspelled stochastic as stochistic, edited my post, but the error will continue forever in your Re:Stochistic response, where your own text is correct. If you want to go back and fix my miss in it, great.

But, more to the point and another pointed point, how do composers use stochasticism (if that's a word)? I, too, in looking up the word, noticed that the root was related to a point. It's ironic, isn't it, that that same point has come to mean a random variable.

Best regards,
WW


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
regarding musical use: b. Mus. Applied (orig. by Yannis Xenakis (b. 1922), Romanian-born Greek composer) to music in which the overall sound structure is determined, but internal details are left to chance or are established mathematically by composer or computer (by the laws of probability or otherwise).

regarding 'stochistic': it seems apt that I should leave your random misspell for a spell, wordmiss.


#48571 11/25/01 08:57 PM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
A good illustration of irony is being blessed with a voice like Barbra Streisand, and then being scared to death of going onstage to sing in front of an audience.


#48572 11/25/01 09:27 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Whitman...Could we ever go on and on about professional musicians who've been world class performers, but possessed of performance anxiety to the max. I read somewhere that Melba, the opera diva, threw up before each performance. Then she was fine.

tsuwm: Thanks so very much for your magnanimous gesture of rescuing me from myself (she said ironically with a highly arched eyebrow...)....

WW


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Those are some pretty nice words," he said. "It's good for what it is. It's sardonic, and
very little pop culture is." As for irony, Fussell found some situational irony in the songs but
no rhetorical irony. "Rhetorical irony requires immense intellectual self-respect," he explained,
"you have to be more or less brilliant to get rhetorical irony."

Dear tsuwm: Paul Fussell sounds fuzzled to me.


Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
I just love it when y'all attempt to impute meaning to my stochastic ramblings. Makes me feel like I'm doing my job.


Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
I just love it when y'all attempt to impute meaning to my stochastic ramblings
Glad to oblige, F.


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Dear Faldage: You have missed your calling. You should be a CIA disinformation specialist.


Page 3 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,675
Members9,187
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo
9,187 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 155 guests, and 9 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,772
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,937
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5