Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA00609 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 12 May 2000 18:05:43 +0100 Message-ID: <B6E47FBD3879D31192AD009027AC929C3688D6@NWTH-EXCHANGE> From: Bruce Jones <BruceJ@nwths.com> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Useless memes Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 12:10:49 -0500 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2232.9) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
A more 'metaphorical' interpretation of the phrase "Don't throw out the
baby ..." is seen all to often in today's' paradigm shifts in business.
A lot of managers get frustrated with the way things are going in the
company so they say "Change it." They start by throwing out the old system
and starting over with a new one. Things don't work out and they wonder
why.
They essentially threw out the baby along with the bath water. They
destroyed the core beliefs or foundations by discarding the whole process.
Another way of saying this even though the meaning is a little different is
"Look before you leap."
Bruce Jones
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chuck Palson [SMTP:cpalson@mediaone.net]
> Subject: Re: Useless memes
>
> By this method of analysis, all words have the same problem: they are "by
> themselves" nonsensical. Most, if not all, words are metaphors that point
> to
> different things through time by shifting the underlying meanings. As I
> have
> pointed out previously, that's why most words have many meanings. So it
> doesn't
> matter if it's words or phrases, a new meaning takes advantage of a lot of
> the
> old meaning to create new meanings. So Agnes was so disgusted with the
> dirty
> water that she emptied the basin before she realized that her baby was in
> there.
> Well, she WAS drunk, but everyone heard the story, and it lived on as a
> metaphor
> for a general category of event.
[BJ]
Really???? Hadn't heard that one before.
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