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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 67
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 67 |
From John le Carré's 'The Tailor of Panama': "...a framed photograph that hung centre stage on the back wall, showing a Socratic , bespectacled gentleman in rounded collars and black jacket, frowning on a younger world."
I found this usage of 'Socratic' interesting, as the usages of 'Socratic' I researched since seemed to refer to philosophy, method etc., but never to an appearance...
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
can't you just picture an elderly, white-bearded man with a very dour expression, looking as though he might have just swallowed a lethal dose of hemlock?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Since nobody knows what Socrates looked like, it seems
an absurd description of a photgraph.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
But, wwh, sometimes you are so literal that you fail to see imaginative possibilities.  Life [for some] ain't always a scientific equation. Permeate. That is a very good word.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
We all know what Socrates looked like. See http://fmwww.bc.edu/pl/
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 48
newbie
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newbie
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 48 |
http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_portraits?page=12
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Okay. So anybody who is male with a round face and is missing most of his nose may properly be referred to as "Socratic" in appearance.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Perhaps you should add "and speaks riddles in classical Greek".
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
And teaches by showing you that you already know it.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well, anchita, *I* at least will try to give you a serious answer! I think he meant you to imagine a wise-looking man.
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