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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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On NOTHINGNESS
Alan Watts
"The idea of nothing has bugged people for centuries, especially in the Western world. We have a saying in Latin, Ex nihilo nuhil fit, which means "out of nothing comes nothing." It has occurred to me that this is a fallacy of tremendous proportions. It lies at the root of all our common sense, not only in the West, but in many parts of the East as well. It manifests in a kind of terror of nothing, a put-down on nothing, and a put-down on everything associated with nothing, such as sleep, passivity, rest, and even the feminine principles. But to me nothing -- the negative, the empty -- is exceedingly powerful. I would say, on the contrary, you can't have something without nothing. Imagine nothing but space, going on and on, with nothing in it forever. But there you are imagining it, and you are something in it. The whole idea of there being only space, and nothing else at all, is not only inconceivable but perfectly meaningless, because we always know what we mean by contrast."
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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i have always thought nowt was just an alternate spelling (matching pronounciation) of naught. Is it ever written/spelled nowt?
my parent said naught and used naught (especially for zero,) gnaw't-- it not far from that to nowt.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
"There is nothing between me and Willow. Okay? Nothing. Bupkiss.
Goose egg. Snake eyes. Othing-nay." I always thought of "bupkiss" as an Italian-by-way-of-New-Jersey sounding word, but it seems to be a Yiddish expression for "nothing," with variant spelling from the word for "beans." See http://www.lizzie.net/html/yiddish.htm or http://members.rotfl.com/cookie4/yiddish.html
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Bupkiss? Beans?
I don't know beans.
Seems we've discussed that here a while back. Beans got a bum rap, huh?
And, speaking of, wonder where bum rap came from? That's probably a YART, too.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200 |
"bupkiss" a Yiddish expression for "nothing," with variant spelling from the word for "beans."For and extend discussion of bubkes (much ado about "nothing") see http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss.asp?Num=738Bubkes: From the Russian word for beans (and, say some sources, the Yiddish for "goat turd"). Something worthless as against expectations, as in, "I worked on it for three hours –- and what did he give me? Bubkes!"
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"Now there were exceptions to what we have just stated. The exceptions were the mathematicians who were involved in recording
astronomical data. Here we find the first use of the symbol which we recognise today as the notation for zero, for Greek
astronomers began to use the symbol O. There are many theories why this particular notation was used. Some historians favour
the explanation that it is omicron, the first letter of theGreek word for nothing namely "ouden". Neugebauer, however, dismisses
this explanation since the Greeks already used omicron as a number - it represented 70 (the Greek number system was based on
their alphabet). Other explanations offered include the fact that it stands for "obol", a coin of almost no value, and that it arises
when counters were used for counting on a sand board. The suggestion here is that when a counter was removed to leave an
empty column it left a depression in the sand which looked like O.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148 |
Nothing to do with nothing, but I just thought I'd like to point out to people that when Milo said
I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! Alexis! You are a man!
he didn't actually mean that I'm a man... because/and I'm not... however, I am now a journeyman =]
alexis
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
And we knew you were a woman--that is, those of us who read your profile!!
milum is the funnest one here (I've thunk at times) when it comes to wild enthusiasms and exaggerations for rhetorical effect. His is the art (sometimes) of Risible Rhetoric.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
"There is nothing between me and Willow. Okay? Nothing. Bupkiss. Goose egg. Snake eyes. Othing-nay."
Does "snake eyes" mean nothing to y'all? I thought it was when you roll the dice in craps (or other games of two little numbered cubes) and get two ones (the opposite of "box cars," when you get two sixes). So a numerical rendering of the above statement might read:
"There is nothing between me and Willow. Okay? 0. 0. 0. 2. 0."
Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. (except that I did once have a girlfriend named Willow and that string of numbers kind of sums the relationship up pretty well - ah, the choices we make when we're young...)
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