tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.comments2024-02-21T10:52:29.090-08:00Good Words Unlimited--Language, Poetry, GardensGood Words Unlimitedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-45414667283284809282023-02-14T17:29:32.945-08:002023-02-14T17:29:32.945-08:00Do NOT issue a fatwa. Hasn't he been through e...Do NOT issue a fatwa. Hasn't he been through enough?Mike Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040998710126869977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-60357162569884357382023-02-14T17:18:37.524-08:002023-02-14T17:18:37.524-08:00Come to think of it, what you wrote is not a poem....Come to think of it, what you wrote is not a poem. I am not useless, but I am used less Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-89294252767393023592023-02-12T12:27:50.996-08:002023-02-12T12:27:50.996-08:00What poem? You should read some Hardy poems and, i...What poem? You should read some Hardy poems and, if you have the stomach for it, some of his novels. I've read enough.Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-49398765392139371712023-02-11T12:54:59.052-08:002023-02-11T12:54:59.052-08:00If I haven’t read Hardy, should I read this poem?If I haven’t read Hardy, should I read this poem?Michael Knottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-86786388338013365332020-10-25T07:09:49.616-07:002020-10-25T07:09:49.616-07:00I would not say I resist definitions. I try to con...I would not say I resist definitions. I try to contextualize the whole idea of definition. Definitions are absolutely essential to knowledge. And they absolutely limit knowledge. They are never correct or adequate in general (though they will often do fine for the moment). The older I get, the more of a nominalist I become. There is only now and there is only this. History exists now, not then. The future does not exist. All definitions are stipulative and meant for the present use. You need to know the definition of "noun" if it helps you understand and use a language not because "noun" encircles an absolute field of things that cannot escape. Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-6966732665505483942020-10-16T17:26:33.067-07:002020-10-16T17:26:33.067-07:00I should subscribe to your blog so I don’t miss yo...I should subscribe to your blog so I don’t miss your replies. I’d just have to figure out how to do this.<br /><br />I’ve noticed something admirable about you: you resist definitions. Maybe that’s the insight, the takeaway here. Grammar, in attempting to describe how a language works, takes on an impossible task. Why bother describing how a language works? I suppose I needed grammar as I was learning Spanish in school; I wouldn’t have needed that grammar if I were living in a Spanish-speaking culture. (Yo no hablo Español. Que lástima.)<br /><br />I’d never want to knowingly punish insightfulness, but perhaps I’ve done so unknowingly. We teachers often have to cut corners, to end a class because the clock says so, not because the conversation found its conclusion. <br /><br />What would a grammar lesson look like in an ideal world? How would that “I want green” play out in your class?DeadWordshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01648392722831374973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-53392387422443147572020-05-12T08:38:27.770-07:002020-05-12T08:38:27.770-07:00No, that's not my concern at all. My concern i...No, that's not my concern at all. My concern is about what we don't tell students--and what teachers themselves don't know--that "grammar" describes or models language only. No description of language is complete. When you're learning a grammar, any grammar, you're learning a way of talking about language at the same time that you are learning about and being deceived about language. Why does this matter? Because at the same time that you are learning about language, you are becoming blinded, it's as though you were being told to forget about the poem and accept the paraphrase or forget about painting and accept the color analysis. It starts with the very idea of "is," the copula. "X is a...." We learn implicitly that our categories are metaphysical facts, which is false; they are imperfect but useful inventions. And then we either punish the clever student who has perceived the imperfection in our description, saying "you got number one wrong," rather than, "here our description no longer makes sense," or we reinforce the lie of a true description by leaving such troubling examples off the test. Thus we literally punish insightfulness. If we understood the implications of this, our perceptions of everything would change, our journey through life would be a different, truer journey, because the same thing that's true of grammatical systems is also true of moral systems and philosophical systems and all descriptive systems of being. I'm tempted to return to Hobbes and start over.Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-6511245362251891922020-05-11T19:34:39.998-07:002020-05-11T19:34:39.998-07:00If “I want it” is S—V—DO, can anything serve in th...If “I want it” is S—V—DO, can anything serve in the DO slot? <br /><br />Anthimeria comes to mind here. In an essay I share with students, a writer gives us this description of a plant (for grazing sheep): “It was salt and bitter.” We expect “salty and bitter,” but she substitutes a noun for its adjectival form. I know that “green” doesn’t substitute for “shirt,” but I don’t reject the teacher’s example. It’s circumscribed by the context of choosing shirts. (Is that how to phrase it—circumscribed?)<br /><br />Then we can imagine other such contexts that would allow “I want bacon-flavored”; “I want funny”; “I want escapist.” Or is your concern that, lifted from context and placed in the artificial context of a grammar test, a declaration like “I want green” asks for a different analysis than parsing?DeadWordshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01648392722831374973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-60191614295497588752018-09-12T16:47:09.362-07:002018-09-12T16:47:09.362-07:00My apologies. I have to mediate posts or I get &qu...My apologies. I have to mediate posts or I get "BUY VIAGRA" comments. And I apparently missed the email telling me to do so. Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-64602581734030978842018-09-12T15:58:20.321-07:002018-09-12T15:58:20.321-07:00I vote for #17.I vote for #17.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-50423417672568657092018-06-23T14:24:56.576-07:002018-06-23T14:24:56.576-07:00The fault lies not in our tongues, but in our type...The fault lies not in our tongues, but in our typewriters; is that what you're saying?<br />Michael Knottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-73461411853140729112018-06-15T13:42:11.153-07:002018-06-15T13:42:11.153-07:00I’ve commented on this twice and it doesn’t post.I’ve commented on this twice and it doesn’t post.Mike Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040998710126869977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-41864035583600390562018-06-15T12:23:32.531-07:002018-06-15T12:23:32.531-07:00In other words, the fault lies not in our tongues,...In other words, the fault lies not in our tongues, but in our typewriters? Are you arguing for a fully literate society that does not record its words, like a computer? No Shakespeare then. The passing down of knowledge (Einstein to Newton to Oppenheimer; Paul to Augustine to Calvin to the Puritans to America) is sacred, but it makes us scared. The unclear becomes nuclear.<br /><br />Is this me? Who is E.W.?<br />E.W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05985490219338454130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-49547634148309719262018-06-14T04:48:51.757-07:002018-06-14T04:48:51.757-07:00I’ve often thought, what a great number of messes ...I’ve often thought, what a great number of messes we make because of language. Maybe we’d be better off without it. But you’re arguing not for the removal of our tongues, merely our typewriters. That’s less severe I suppose. We’d be like computers without hard hard drives, capable of processing data but not storing it. <br /><br />Lineages removed. Newton – Einstein —Oppenheimer. <br /><br /> Paul — Augustine – Calvin – the Puritans —America. E.W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05985490219338454130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-1401779314478384432018-01-24T18:26:59.727-08:002018-01-24T18:26:59.727-08:00Maybe. But his approval rating has been remarkably...Maybe. But his approval rating has been remarkably consistent, mid to upper thirties. What can he do to alienate these people that he hasn't already done? Such a transparent nitwit, if you haven't seen it yet, you can't see it. They'd blame nuclear war on Obama or Clinton. <br />Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-17985096256754735002018-01-24T17:51:57.074-08:002018-01-24T17:51:57.074-08:00But there seems to be an erosion of support from h...But there seems to be an erosion of support from his base. His approval rating is down 17 percent among white evangelicals. I saw a letter from a woman who voted for him and now regrets it because she never thought his campaign persona was the real thing. So maybe he's suffering from being consistent. <br /><br />-RE.W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05985490219338454130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-17141341303878627502018-01-01T15:14:03.140-08:002018-01-01T15:14:03.140-08:00Close to home this time. Family of five in Long Br...Close to home this time. Family of five in Long Branch. Semi-automatic weapon in the house.Mike Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040998710126869977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-28647111291187062882017-11-21T16:01:58.705-08:002017-11-21T16:01:58.705-08:00Only the voice, though that's actually closer ...Only the voice, though that's actually closer to Ginsberg, and the deep concern with the welfare of the country, and the long lines. I was going to use a more Whitmanesque line, and perhaps should have, but this is what came out. Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-64046484737413929902017-11-21T15:38:06.946-08:002017-11-21T15:38:06.946-08:00I hope some of them read this, but they may wonder...I hope some of them read this, but they may wonder what ties it to Whitman.<br />Like me.Mike Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040998710126869977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-53196854712670409632017-09-24T18:40:53.487-07:002017-09-24T18:40:53.487-07:00BumpBumpMike Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040998710126869977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-62808335397686849352017-09-22T11:51:35.536-07:002017-09-22T11:51:35.536-07:00Are you saying this poem was written in college da...Are you saying this poem was written in college days, and I saw it and made the same comment then? Remarkably consistent. I should run for president, but I don't want to be called a goatherd, or anything that rhymes with it.E.W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05985490219338454130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-79442801115340900132017-09-22T07:10:17.718-07:002017-09-22T07:10:17.718-07:00Point of curiosity: You say this--let's call i...Point of curiosity: You say this--let's call it a poem--years ago, more than 30. You thought the same thing then. No doubt you've forgotten that (shocking!). I thought of it sometime last week out of the blue, regretted that I'd lost it. Then, I opened a book to prepare some text I was writing and out came a scrap of paper this this scribbled on it. Oh, blessed recover! I've since had my hard drive crash. Lost hundreds of texts, some of even less quality than this. Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-63442158629631265062017-09-22T04:49:22.448-07:002017-09-22T04:49:22.448-07:00Low, but reasonably ha-ish.Low, but reasonably ha-ish.Mike Knotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040998710126869977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-87428167988854302422017-06-25T15:05:47.986-07:002017-06-25T15:05:47.986-07:00Thank you for the comment. I wasn't thinking o...Thank you for the comment. I wasn't thinking of "god" as gendered here. But the point is well-made and -taken.Good Words Unlimitedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01282038569014777217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051900695500866545.post-61766751266311406892017-06-25T14:46:39.915-07:002017-06-25T14:46:39.915-07:00Lovely poem. World-wide, though, rivers were gene...Lovely poem. World-wide, though, rivers were generally associated with goddesses, not gods. Anuket was goddess of the Nile, and Satis was goddess of the annual Nile flood (Nephthys ruled other Egyptian waterways). Ganga is goddess of the Ganges. Celtic river goddesses included Boann (R. Boyne), Clota (R. Clyde), and Sequana (R. Seine). African river goddesses include Yemoja and Oshun; the Aztecs had a river goddess I can't spell or pronounce. There are many more across various continents. <br /><br />It's a pity our Judeo-Christian world-view doesn't make more metaphors for the feminine power conceived by those ancient spiritual imaginations. Perhaps our contemporary world would be less out-of-balance than it is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com