Let us suppose a beat-boxer, one of those gifted with the skill to reproduce a whole orchestra of percussive instruments using only his voice, and let us have him put in charge of a large and complicated steam-driven machine of the sort which has something fed in at one end, processes it, and puts the … Continue reading The Beat-Boxer and the Steam Machine: a paradigm of primitive speech
Tag: language
Why Writing is like a Playtex Bra
‘It lifts and separates’ is a slogan that will be familiar to those of my generation - it was advertised as the chief virtue of the Playtex ‘cross-your-heart’ Bra in the impressionable days of my youth. However, it also serves as a memorable illustration of my theory concerning the origin of what we think of … Continue reading Why Writing is like a Playtex Bra
One way of thinking about it
For some time now I have been trying to pin down a thing that troubles me about language - to be exact, the relation between its literary form and speech, and my sense that our perception of how they stand to one another is out of kilter.Here’s a way of thinking about it that occurred … Continue reading One way of thinking about it
Three Misleading Oppositions, Three Useful Axioms
There is an interesting comparison to be made between people and language: we can - especially when we are young and earnest - come to see both as standing in need of improvement, though essentially perfectible (with ourselves as the agents of perfection, naturally); only when we are older do we come to think that … Continue reading Three Misleading Oppositions, Three Useful Axioms
COMPLEAT TROWZER 