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addict
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and what about the old English word "wit" and its obvious derivative "half-wit"?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>and its obvious derivative "half-wit"?
Are you implying anything mate???
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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and its obvious derivative "half-wit"?
Are you implying anything mate???
Well, Jo, if the shoe fits...
Hey, she threw it at me!!!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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witI don't have my trusty Chaucer collection at work  , but I seem to remember that the ME form was wighte, which meant 'to know', as in "he wighte nat the dai.." Presumably where the name for the Isle of Wight came from  (sorry, UK specific humour)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Presumably where the name for the Isle of Wight came from So, all the children on this Isle are half-Wights?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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well if they are children, and addressed, as children often are by a diminutive, wouldn't they be Dim-Wights?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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there's a German word that very much applies here (getting back to words and stuff) - witzelsucht[a morbid tendency to pun and make poor jokes]
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old hand
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old hand
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Hi shanks, In my experience, French philosophical terms (like "savoir") are rather incommensurable with Anglo-saxon ones. Post-modernist science-study adepts talk of knowledge production. Knowledge is thus regarded as a sort of exchangeable commodity with an agreed value (even more marked in know-how). Understanding implies the ability to relate knowledge pertaining to a given level to a more basic/general level.
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>Apparently the French have two or three different words to describe knowledge<
Shanks, is there any way you can find out what these 'apparent' words are?
The only ones I can think of off-hand are three verbs (apologies upfront for the missing accents - too much effort!):
- savoir - to know factually, as in 'I know that the sea is salty.' Usually used about a specific fact.
- connaitre - to know in a sense of recognition, as in 'Of course I know shanks, I've been on the board long enough!' Or 'I know London!' by your taxi driver as he swings his way down a mysterious alley that helps cut ten minutes off your journey.
- comprendre - to understand, as in 'I understand French if it isn't spoken too fast.' Related to comprehend in English - both share a root which is about graspng / taking / getting hold of. Getting a grip on, which this sort of knowledge is doing.
Think of the difference between knowing Shanks (connaitre) and knowing Shanks (comprendre)!
If there are other words, I'd love to know them!
***
Interstingly - and possibly completely irrelevantly, but my mind is wandering along a comparative thread here - the commonest Latin word for 'to know' (damned if I can remember what it is!) always takes a past tense form. To me, this has always seemed to relate to the fact that knowledge is something acquired, something worked at, a change. Not so much 'I know' as 'I have learned'.
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old hand
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OP
old hand
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"Savoir, connaitre, comprendre": I think you've got the French words I was referring to. I spoke loosely of 'knowledge', aware of my grammatical limitations when it comes to French.
Thanks for that. Would love to 'know' what the Latin word is to which you refer.
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