Re: I Will Become a TV Evangelist (Was: "Sam Wormley is Wrong...")

From: Davoud (star_at_sky.net)
Date: 01/30/05 

Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 22:55:15 -0500

Davoud:
> > And people took my post seriously! Except Gareth Slee, who caught on
> > immediately. As I said to Gareth, I don't know how those who took me
> > seriously deal with the spoken language, which contains no graphic
> > smileys.

Brian Tung:
> I certainly hope you, as a linguist, are not seriously ignorant of why
> spoken language needs no smileys.

Indeed I am not. I am more and more confronted by people who interpet
little or nothing, however, but seem to take everything they hear or
read quite literally. Subtleties don't work with these people, irony is
lost on them, they don't recognize figures of speech, and even the
absurd (like my post) is taken at face value. The ten centuries or so
that have gone into enriching our language are wasted on some people.
And all people, including you and me, only know what they know; if they
don't get it, they don't get it. Ya gotta despair sometimes.

Then there is the issue of being thin-skinned; in spite of my awareness
of this sin, I admit to committing it myself from time to time. Some
folks aren't aware of it, however, and make no attempt to roll with the
punches. Push a sensitive button and they go into orbit. I'm _usually_
a bit more tolerant and down-to-earth than that.

Re: my satirizing the Old Testament in my silly post, here's a bit of
double irony: one of my languages is Modern Hebrew. That doesn't
qualify me as an Old Testament scholar by a long shot, but with help
from native speakers and dictionaries I muddle my way through bits and
pieces of the OT in Hebrew on occasion. I also read the OT in English,
of course, with the Authorized Version my sentimental favorite for the
unparalleled richness of its English, and the "Jerusalem Bible,"
produced by the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem,
for its modern clarity. <http://www.op.org/op/ebaf/index-eng.htm> I
consider the OT to be the greatest piece of literature ever produced --
a source of wonderful myth, fascinating history, and profound wisdom.

Regards,

Davoud
 (Irony within irony within irony: One of my favorite versions of the
OT opens with a vow to protect King James from "Popish persons;" the
other is the product of those very "Popish persons," the Dominicans of
the École Biblique!) 

-- 
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com
Quantcast