Re: How do extraterrestial languages work ? ? ? ?

From: Seán O'Leathlóbhair (jwlawler_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 12/30/04 

Date: 30 Dec 2004 03:53:24 -0800

A bit absurd but a common type of joke among mathematicians (and maybe
others). In a similar way, I once had this conversation with a
colleague at about 6 in the evening.

Colleague: There are very few people still working, in the old days the
office would be busy at this time.

Me: Maybe they are just eating and will come back later. Any time that
I have been here at midnight, the office was very busy.

I would claim that my last sentence was true. To disprove it, my
colleague would need an example of an occasion that I was in the office
at midnight and it was not busy. No such example exists hence the
statement is true.

In a similar way, I have never made a mistake while speaking a native
American language.

Another thing along these lines is the famous question: Have you
stopped beating your wife? If you never have, how should you answer?
Seán O'Leathlóbhair

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