Comments on: George, grammar, and the lion-eating poet http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/387?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=george-grammar-and-the-lion-eating-poet Dave Ferguson's interests, ideas, notions, tangents Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:35:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dave http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/387/comment-page-1#comment-9218 Dave Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:27:09 +0000 http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/?p=387#comment-9218 Thanks, Orlando. In some ways language of the real world. At one level, you can translate easily from one language to another in the same way that we see solids as stable and liquids as not having a fixed shape. When you probe more deeply, or perhaps when you simply consider in a different context, then the "meaning" of speech or text --- even the meaning of meaning --- is much more elusive. One of my favorite Gaelic proverbs is: <i>Chan fhiach cuirm gun a còmhradh.</i> Literally, "Not (a) good feast without conversation," but so compressed intranslation it's hard to catch the sense of "It isn't a feast if there's no good talk." Thanks, Orlando. In some ways language of the real world. At one level, you can translate easily from one language to another in the same way that we see solids as stable and liquids as not having a fixed shape.

When you probe more deeply, or perhaps when you simply consider in a different context, then the “meaning” of speech or text — even the meaning of meaning — is much more elusive.

One of my favorite Gaelic proverbs is: Chan fhiach cuirm gun a còmhradh.

Literally, “Not (a) good feast without conversation,” but so compressed intranslation it’s hard to catch the sense of “It isn’t a feast if there’s no good talk.”

]]> By: Orlando Kelm http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/387/comment-page-1#comment-9213 Orlando Kelm Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:14:38 +0000 http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/?p=387#comment-9213 To continue with your musing... I've also been thinking about how people say things in Chinese. I took my first trip to China in January and while in the Forbidden City I noticed a sign, which basically meant "Stay off the Rocks" but the English translation of the Chinese sign said "A single act of carelessness leads to the eternal loss of beauty." Wow, talk about high context speech, it took me a while to even understand what it was getting at. I enjoyed your post today. To continue with your musing… I’ve also been thinking about how people say things in Chinese. I took my first trip to China in January and while in the Forbidden City I noticed a sign, which basically meant “Stay off the Rocks” but the English translation of the Chinese sign said “A single act of carelessness leads to the eternal loss of beauty.” Wow, talk about high context speech, it took me a while to even understand what it was getting at. I enjoyed your post today.

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