Re: OT: Case decided (was 2nd Amendment case)

Ed Huntress wrote:
<snip>

It's a sign of growing wisdom. d8-) Language is important. Its debasement,
as George Orwell and many others have noted, is the source of a lot of bad
politics and bad thinking. And it's been debased by a collusion between
marketing and politics, managerialism (business organization theory), and
the "professionalization" of almost every detail of life. In fact, there's a
book about this, which our old friend Hamei gave me, titled _Death
Sentences_. It's pretty good.

If you're interested in learning how arbitrary and fouled-up many of the
rules you were taught actually are, the expert at this is a linguist named
David Crystal. He's written a lot of books about it, some of them fun
reading for the non-professional:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/104-7729092-1623955?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=David%20Crystal

I can recommend _How Language Works_ and _The Fight for English: How
Language Pundits Ate, Shot, and Left_ (he objects to _Eats, Shoots, and
Leaves_, which he considers pedantic and arbitrary, although the author is a
friend of his). These are not for everyone. You have to be interested, or it
will bore you to tears.


Thanks for the recommendations. I bought the Kindle version of
_How Language Works_ and am now into the sixth chapter. A lot of what
he's covered so far is pretty basic, with the exception of some of the
linguistics terminology. I don't think that I knew before reading this
that I have a pharynx or why it's significant that it differs from
that of other primates (he doesn't seem to group us with the primates,
though).

I know that I read _Eats, Shoots and Leaves_ shortly after it was
first published, but I can't for the life of me recollect anything
else about it. Ain't gettin' old swell? On the other hand, if I can
locate it, I'll have the pleasure of reading an almost new to me book,
without having to purchase it. Of course, since you've brought it to
my attention, I'll then have to read Crystal's book that critques it
it.

It's almost like there's something new to learn every day.

<ValleyGirl> It's, like, OMG, life is _such_ a
_challenge_</ValleyGirl>. <g>

R,
Tom Q.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Dawkins: new book coming out Sept. 22
    ... reading more on the political themes lately. ... Krugman's "Conscience of a Liberal." ... My next book will be "Redefining Health Care" by Porter & Teisberg. ... When it comes to politics -- there is a ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: leonard susskind
    ... :> I am reading Intelligent Thought: Science Vs the Intelligent ... political point is out of place in the sort of book Susskind was ... Creationists already think that evolution is politics ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT - Global Warming Revisited
    ... Reading comprehension problems again. ... >>When politics forces scientists to re-word their conclusions (the case ... >>of the IPCC summary reports), ... >>attract qualified scientists who have no agenda. ...
    (alt.machines.cnc)
  • Re: Hip Hop Could never die
    ... middle class household. ... I was reading and listening to music. ... and my father, a laissez-faire anarchist, ... introduction to politics, even if they live in this country. ...
    (rec.music.hip-hop)
  • Re: Sign The Petition
    ... In short I would take the career out of career politics. ... You have to realise that time is a very slow process. ... shoots grow. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
Loading