Posted by Martin G. on July 15, 1999 at 12:12:38:
In Reply to: A different view on language posted by Nick Edwards on July 14, 1999 at 17:08:53:
Re Nick's last posting:
I laughed so much I almost got a hernia. But I really must get a grip on this; there appear to be at least two different Nicks here on the board - I'll call them Nick1 and Nick2.
Nick1 seems to be the author of useful postings such as msg. 2535.
Nick2 is the author of 2550, 2554 etc. etc. etc. This Nick has set himself up as the High Priest of Received Wisdom, lecturing us all on what science is, and ironically, what language is, despite the fact that he has immense problems with language himself (not to mention cognition).
Nick2, whether you like it or not, dear boy, I'm one of at least 5 different scientists (what do you think a linguist is, dear china plate?) who are subscribers to this board - and your pontifications on the subject are hilarious.
Indeed, reading Nick2's postings is like sniffing really bad glue -
- There's the same heady exhilaration,
- The same atrocious incoherence
- The same mind-numbing fog
- The same awful fascination
- and the same dreadful knowledge, that if one keeps on doing this, one can kiss the rest of one's brain cells goodbye.....
But seriously, Nick2: Language is not a social construct? We're born with the word "balderdash" already fixed in our heads? The semantics, morphology and phonetics of the word "poppycock" or "tosh" or "piffle" already fixed in our genes?
This is your second major "scientific" discovery on this board, BTW, the first being your announcement that there is only one correct definition of the word "socialism" - and you still haven't told us where this is to be found!