Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA01251 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 15 May 2001 18:47:46 +0100 Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 18:42:14 +0100 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: jabberwocky Message-ID: <20010515184214.B901@ii01.org> References: <20010515131911.AAA16065@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.15i In-Reply-To: <20010515131911.AAA16065@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]>; from wade_smith@harvard.edu on Tue, May 15, 2001 at 09:19:11AM -0400 From: Robin Faichney <robin@ii01.org> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Tue, May 15, 2001 at 09:19:11AM -0400, Wade T.Smith wrote:
> On 05/15/01 03:51, Robin Faichney said this-
>
> >I'd say, there's at least one example of a word that is used
> >unusually, where that use conveys exactly what the writer intended.
>
> Not to put too much of a point on it, but, yeah, that's what creative
> writing is all about- making something understood on an
> emotional/intellectual level, and yeah, poetry is sometimes putting
> things in previously wrong places or using it in a new way to make this
> understanding possible.
That's common in literary prose as well as poetry.
> And, yes, in these instances, 'the best use of a word' might well be one
> at odds with common definitions or idiosyncratically.
Thank you.
> But this is poetry, and that particular use of that particular word in
> that particular way _will not be repeated_ (usually) in other places or
> times, and certainly not for understanding things of a different nature.
So you deny that words change their meanings?
> Language is an ever-changing, shifting landfall of human expression.
Don't you see any conflict there?
> And when science becomes poetry (which I dearly desire, BTW) then even
> technical journals can look like Finnegan's Wake.
I don't know what you mean by "science becomes poetry", but to me many
technical journals already look like Finnegan's Wake.
> But until then, plodding learners that we are, we need stepping stones of
> permanent fixture on the landscape of facts.
>
> And the unchanging symbols of science to mark them.
Granted, science is unlike ordinary language and requires greater
consistency, but, as I said, my use of "information" is consensual in
scientific and technical contexts. It only conflicts with arts&humanities
usage (and it doesn't even conflict there if we're conscious of context
and recognise we're dealing with different concepts).
-- Robin Faichney Get your Meta-Information from http://www.ii01.org (CAUTION: contains philosophy, may cause heads to spin)=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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