Words don't mean what they used to anymore. Dictionaries

[rzemanfl]

obsolete. "Bush Reiterates 2004 Pledge to Fire Any Member of Staff Who Committed a Crime in CIA Leak Case." Reiterate now means to change completely. How can * "reiterate" something he never said before? This country is a looney bin.

Later in the article they do get to the change in position, but the short attention span folks have gotten the party line.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=949458

[Xipe Totec]

1. Need to use Webster's 1984 Edition

The Orwell commemorative version.

[WatchWhatISay]

2. They dont say"it depends on what the meaning of is is"

but rather "the new meaning of is shall be. . ."

[wallwriter]

3. Word up!

[oscar111]

4. WORLD LANGUAGE needed

tangent here...

we need to spread the idea of a world language.

think of all the human labor hours wasted doing classes on foreign langs... and on translations... and how multiple languages hinder the spread of good ideas.

eg. Esperanto, Loglan, Basic English { BE is a 5OO word english IIRC, that sounds like you trying to tell your new illegal-immigrant servant how to do something in really simple eng. for someone who is new to english} PS dont forget to pay the ss tax on his wages LOL.

loglan is computer made language, with syllables chosen based on how many millions already use that syll. for the existing meaning.

eg, balu is loglan for blue.

scientific american had an artilce on it long ago.

[LizMoonstar]

5. way to

make my degree obsolete! (French language and lit)

seriously, though, are the benefits of wiping out 'foreign' languages in favor of one common language worth the loss of the cultural value of those languages?

not being snarky, I want to know what people think.

[oscar111]

7. "cultural value"? no such thing

if u mean, "ideas which cant be transalated", ... in the 2O's, linguists found that all ideas can be translated into all languages

if u mean, " we are different from you by using this language,".. well, such provincalism promotes war. Best to get rid of it pronto.
Humanity is one. Or should be.. if you value peace.

[LizMoonstar]

8. question:

do you think that Shakespeare, for example, doesn't lose any of its poetic value translated into straight modern English, or would you prefer to read it in his 'language'?

That's how I feel about French literature. For all that translations can be made, I feel like some of the nuance is lost, and I don't want to lose those nuances. I don't really care what we do with everyday communication, but I'm not giving up my Pierre Corneille plays.


plus, could we make sure that this new language we're going to all use has the best stuff from all the languages, like the French 'on', a global pronoun for the general 'you' or 'they', i.e. 'you know what they say', and the German neuter pronouns, and so on?

[oscar111]

9. Fun nuances pale in compar'sn w/ 9 million starving to death

thanks for a polite reply.

My tone here is meant to be polite, so read it as polite if in doubt. I am sincere about this.

Now...

IF world GDP can be upped with a world lang., making more money available for reducing starvation... then nuances are a small price to pay for ending some extreme human suffering.

Personally, focus on enjoyable nuances {and another poster focused on jokes} does not convince me. Seems a bit trivial in comparison to photos of Chad kids barely able to move their arms.

Hope i came across as polite.
Comments?

[LizMoonstar]

10. again, i don't care what we do with everyday language.

I just don't think it's right to wipe out the various languages as scholarly, academic pursuits. Just like not everyone cares about, say, Kantian philosophy, not everyone needs to care about various languages, but we should retain them for study.

Fair enough?

[wli]

6. this is more literally true than you think

Check Webster 1913 vs. current usage of "radical."

[AAARRRGGGHHH]

11. Yeah, this article is clearly

disassembling.