2002-01-23
semantics shmemantics; or antics in semantics (rhymey rhymey)
i didn't have class until 1 today, so i actually had time for lunch. i wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, but all the bread we have that isn't in the freezer is onion bread or this weird cheese kind, and i just wanted bread that tasted like BREAD. i found some, but the whole ordeal left me with kind of a crummy mood for the rest of the day.
the one ray of sunshine was my semantics class. who knew this was going to be so much fun. here is something that i learned today: when you write the letters to some word, say, 'cat,' you're not actually writing the word cat. you're only writing a representation of the word. if you erase it, the word cat still exists in the world. also, in writing the word cat, you're not necessarily describing the small furry mammal that leaves hair all over your most treasured belongings. to do this, you would have to write I(cat), I meaning interpretation.
of course, I(cat) doesn't actually mean the small furry mammal either -- it's just a representation of the small furry mammal. the two things (I(cat) and the mammal) are not equal.
hah.
i heart linguistics. i would heart it even more if i understood how knowing this kind of thing is going to save me from living in a cardboard box.
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