Re: The anthropomorphic universe
- From: John Hall <nospam_nov03@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 10:49:37 +0000
In article <AfWd+fOOMdHEFwDP@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Molly Mockford <nospamnobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
If "God only knows how I feel about you" doesn't mean "Only God knows
how I feel about you", does it therefore mean "The only thing God knows
is how I feel about you"? Or what?
I think that your suggested meaning is correct - though no doubt the
Beach Boys didn't intend it to be interpreted that way. But I was being
pedantic because, after all, that's what this group is for. :)
I vaguely remember that at school we were given the sentence "My sister
blew her nose" and required to insert the word "only" in every possible
position, thus:
Only my sister blew her nose
My only sister blew her nose
My sister only blew her nose
My sister blew only her nose
My sister blew her only nose
My sister blew her nose only
Versatile word, "only".
Yep. Some of those raise some bizarre possibilities if the restriction
imposed by "only" was to be removed. For the fourth: my sister blew her
nose and then her ears. For the fifth: my sister blew both her noses.
For the sixth: my sister blew first her own nose and then mine.
--
John Hall
"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
that man can never learn anything from history."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
.
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