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You use that word a lot...
Jan. 7th, 2006 02:43 pmRead this essay in its new home.
Jan. 7th, 2006
You use that word a lot...
Jan. 7th, 2006 02:49 pmInteresting. And also this.
Reading through the first post and its comments I'm struck once again by the fact that one of the greatest barriers to communication is language. Or, more precisely, the barrier is the assumption that language is a simple, clear tool with which to precisely convey one's thoughts to others. You don't need to read any semiotic theory to see that this is ridiculous on the face of it, but the wistful notion of language as some kind of solid, specific thing persists.
And so we get these debates. Terms like "nice", "mean", "polite", "honest", "courteous", etc... they get thrown around very freely, but no one seems to take much time to actually define what they mean by those catch-all terms, and so wind up having circular conversations with other people who think they are in disagreement when, in fact, they agree quite firmly. They just use the words in different ways, as pointers to different concept groups.
Of course, another great barrier appears to be the basic tendency to make sweeping, general statements that are not, in all or even most circumstances, true for the speaker. I do not find it surprising that this leads to much confusion and more circular arguments, wherein respondents say "But that's not right!" and the poster insists that it is until someone points out the sweeping generality of the original statement and the poster is reduced to saying "But that's not what I meant!". (Happily, this does not apply to the above posts, but certainly does to a few of their interrogators and interrogatees.)
Anyone who thinks language is a transparent medium for communication, or that words have stable, obvious, singular meanings should really sit down and read some fandom exchanges for a while.
Having said this, let me put my money where my mouth is and attempt, as a spiritual exercise, to achieve precision myself.
( Let us, then, to the dictionary )
Reading through the first post and its comments I'm struck once again by the fact that one of the greatest barriers to communication is language. Or, more precisely, the barrier is the assumption that language is a simple, clear tool with which to precisely convey one's thoughts to others. You don't need to read any semiotic theory to see that this is ridiculous on the face of it, but the wistful notion of language as some kind of solid, specific thing persists.
And so we get these debates. Terms like "nice", "mean", "polite", "honest", "courteous", etc... they get thrown around very freely, but no one seems to take much time to actually define what they mean by those catch-all terms, and so wind up having circular conversations with other people who think they are in disagreement when, in fact, they agree quite firmly. They just use the words in different ways, as pointers to different concept groups.
Of course, another great barrier appears to be the basic tendency to make sweeping, general statements that are not, in all or even most circumstances, true for the speaker. I do not find it surprising that this leads to much confusion and more circular arguments, wherein respondents say "But that's not right!" and the poster insists that it is until someone points out the sweeping generality of the original statement and the poster is reduced to saying "But that's not what I meant!". (Happily, this does not apply to the above posts, but certainly does to a few of their interrogators and interrogatees.)
Anyone who thinks language is a transparent medium for communication, or that words have stable, obvious, singular meanings should really sit down and read some fandom exchanges for a while.
Having said this, let me put my money where my mouth is and attempt, as a spiritual exercise, to achieve precision myself.
( Let us, then, to the dictionary )
FFVII: Standalone: White
Jan. 7th, 2006 04:08 pmFic post from my archive.
Reno talks about Rufus a little to Tifa and Cloud.
"I'm not saying he's nice, Tifa. But the old guy... he was a slime. Rufus-shachou is an ice cold bastard, but he's honest about it. Always."