Re: Done.

1

I see this posted on FB every month or so:
To be is to do -Socrates
To do is to be -Sartre
Do be do be do -Sinatra
And now all the philosophers here will tell me how it's completely misinterpreting all three.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:03 AM
horizontal rule
2

No, just the last. It's actually "doobie doobie do".


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:05 AM
horizontal rule
3

1: That was grafitti on a wall in Bethesda, Maryland in the late 1970s. Means of communication change, but bad jokes live forever.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:33 AM
horizontal rule
4

But I say unto you, Like your enemies, DM them that curse you, share the posts of them that hate you, and post to the walls of those which despitefully use you, and persecute you.


Posted by: OPINIONATED FACEBOOK JESUS | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:36 AM
horizontal rule
5

I've found myself looking for the 'like' button on blog comments here and elsewhere. Facebook has me trained.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:37 AM
horizontal rule
6

Now that you've mastered the Do Imperative you can move on to the Rather Affirmation.


Posted by: conflated | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:39 AM
horizontal rule
7

DM them that curse you

Running a D&D campaign might be difficult if they're cursing you the whole time.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:43 AM
horizontal rule
8

Now that you've mastered the Do Imperative you can move on to the Rather Affirmation.

Worst Robert Ludlum books ever.



Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:44 AM
horizontal rule
9

pretending I'm either pretentious or British

I'm not British, but when I use 'do' as an imperative, I'm not pretending anything. I'm actually pretentious.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 7:52 AM
horizontal rule
10

I like how Brits say "I have done" where USians would say "I have".

7: For some, the norm.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:17 AM
horizontal rule
11

I'm reasonably bright, but I've never really known what 'semantic' means. It has something to do with language and grammar, and pairs with 'syntax' somewhow, but I've never understood precisely what is going on with it. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of those words that just serves to create a general aura of complexity.

(I keep this very secret around philosophers of language).


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:34 AM
horizontal rule
12

semantic satiation*

It's weird that this usage predominates over 'semantic saturation'. 'Satiated' means 'pleasantly full' in my idiolect.


Posted by: Criminally Bulgur | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:36 AM
horizontal rule
13

I've never really known what 'semantic' means.

Are you trying to be performative here?


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:36 AM
horizontal rule
14

Hee.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:41 AM
horizontal rule
15

See, any attempt to use 'semantic' just sets me up for mockery.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:49 AM
horizontal rule
16

"Semantic" is a portmanteau of "semen" and "mantis" and refers to a woman choking her male sexual partner with his own semen and then eating him.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 8:59 AM
horizontal rule
17

In politics, it means Jewish. In language, it means Jewish or Arab.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 9:04 AM
horizontal rule
18

I don't even own a facebook.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 9:08 AM
horizontal rule
19

'Semantic' means having to do with meaning. 'Syntactic' means having to do with grammar, that is, with what counts as a well-formed sentence.


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 9:11 AM
horizontal rule
20

Assuming that wasn't performative, semantics is to do with the meaning of language and sytax is to do with the structure. So, famously, "Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" is syntactically correct English but semantically meaningless.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 9:13 AM
horizontal rule
21

Now explain performative.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 9:21 AM
horizontal rule
22

In a linguistic context, performative means that the utterance is an action in itself not just a statement describing the world. The archetypal example is when you say "I promise to do x", or "I bet you $5 that x".

So, in this slightly looser usage case, PGD was professing not to know the meaning of the study of meaning. Which could have been an elaborate gag.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 10:18 AM
horizontal rule
23

I realise I haven't explained that very well. What I meant to say is that performative utterences are inherently causative, unlike ordinary statements. By saying "I promise x", you are necessarily* causing that promise to come into being. Whereas if you say "X will happen", that's just a statement that may or may not be true.

*Obviously not if quoting or obviously joking or whatever.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 10:25 AM
horizontal rule
24

Oh, so "'KABOOM!', he literally exploded" would be a good example of how not to explain "performative" in front of nosflow.


Posted by: Todd | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 10:26 AM
horizontal rule
25

In politics, it means Jewish. In language, it means Jewish or Arab.

What are we, chopped liver?


Posted by: OPINIONATED AMHARIC SPEAKER | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 10:29 AM
horizontal rule
26

A GENTLEMAN, YOUNG, WITH A FAIR portion of cash and very "large expectations,"

Just come out and say "well hung." The quotation marks make you look like a douchebag.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 12:01 PM
horizontal rule
27

I would have said 22.1 were canonical examples of speech acts.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 12:04 PM
horizontal rule
28

26 to 21.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 4:00 PM
horizontal rule
29

26 to the other thread?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 4:12 PM
horizontal rule
30

26 indeed to the other thread, where it was just the same pwned by essear, I think.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 08-19-13 4:13 PM
horizontal rule
31

I don't know about the "like" button so much, but I have found here and on other blogs that I miss reddit's upvote system. I discovered that Web site relatively late - about a year ago or so - and spend 90 percent of my time on a single subreddit, but now I'm probably spending as much time on it as I ever spent on a blog. It's easier to stay interested in both discussions and communities when I can express an opinion without needing to either say something pointlessly redundant or come up with my own unique insight. (Or, to put it more self-critically, it's easier to stay interested when I don't need to put much thought into things.)


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 08-20-13 10:55 AM
horizontal rule