What do gorillas think about? Or hens? ‘A hen stares at nothing with one eye, then picks it up.’ (in looking up McCaig’s line (from ‘Summer Farm’) just now I came across two curious comments on it: ‘Could refer to a weathervane as an inanimate hen only has one eye. “Nothing” refers to the … Continue reading It’s not what you think
Author: jfmward
Author, bicycle enthusiast
In the beginning was the word… or was it?
Reflecting on the origin of words leads us into interesting territory. I do not mean the origin of particular words, though that can be interesting too; I mean the notion of words as units, as building blocks into which sentences can be divided. How long have we had words? The temptation is to say ‘as … Continue reading In the beginning was the word… or was it?
The Lords of Convention
‘The present king of France is bald’ seems to present a logical problem that ‘the cat is on the table’ does not - there is no present king of France, so how can we assert that he is bald? and is the sentence true or false? But I am much more interested in the second … Continue reading The Lords of Convention
Not One of the Herd
My entry for the 2016 Pitlochry Festival Theatre Winter Words Festival 'Fearie Tales' competition - unsuccessful, alas, for a second year! My early success (here and here)seems a distant memory - but judge for yourself: ‘So, Reverend Sheila, does the Devil go about like a roaring lion, as the good book says, seeking whom he … Continue reading Not One of the Herd
The Disintegration of Expression
The week when a group of scientists have decided to hold the ‘Doomsday Clock’ at three minutes to midnight (though I cannot help feeling that the notion of a clock that can always be reset undermines the idea of time running out) is an apt one to consider the diagram above, which also deals with … Continue reading The Disintegration of Expression
Literally Seismic
Pedantic old gurnard* that I am, I still experience a frisson of annoyance when people (journalists, mostly) say things like ‘the very epicentre of the fighting’ or ‘the epicentre of world trade’. That is because ‘epicentre’ has a precise meaning, which in these cases is ignored: it is properly used of earthquakes, to denote the … Continue reading Literally Seismic
Where to Find Talking Bears, or The Needless Suspension of Disbelief
Something I have been struggling to pin down is a clear expression of my thoughts on the oft-quoted dictum of Coleridge, shown in its original context here: ‘it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a … Continue reading Where to Find Talking Bears, or The Needless Suspension of Disbelief
The Muybridge Moment
The memorable Eadweard Muybridge invented a number of things, including his own name - he was born Edward Muggeridge in London in 1830. He literally got away with murder in 1872 when he travelled some seventy-five miles to shoot dead his wife’s lover (prefacing the act with ‘here's the answer to the letter you sent … Continue reading The Muybridge Moment
The Mechanism of Meaning (it’s all in the mind)
Meaning matters. It is bound up with so many things: understanding and misunderstanding, doubt and certainty, to say nothing of philosophy, poetry, music and art; so it is worth considering the mechanism by which it operates. 'Mechanism' is a useful image here: when mechanisms are hidden - as they generally are - their effects can … Continue reading The Mechanism of Meaning (it’s all in the mind)
Autumn Almanac
It being as fine an Autumn day as you could wish for, I set out on my hundred-year-old bicycle to take a turn about Perth, pausing only to admire the details that never fail to give me pleasure on my 1915 Golden Sunbeam, such as the parallel seat stays, the gold-leaf embellishment, the noble proportions … Continue reading Autumn Almanac
COMPLEAT TROWZER 