brouhaha

the linguistic theory of dissimilation, wherein a consonant sound becomes more like another - (i.e., the latin for 'midday' being, first, 'medio-dies' then 'meri-dies')

the linguistic theory of phonetic shift, changing the phoneme of a word - (i.e., "don't be sorry" becoming "dombe sorry")

... thoughts on the formation of a New English.

... thoughts on the devolution of language & communication. does telepathy render speech useless?

there's going to have to be a modality shift in the very nature of communication coming soon. how much language has changed already: co-opted slang from other culture sets, whether out of idolatry or irony. the dulling edge of interesting vocabulary - at least, for me, from an academic standpoint. 'dulling' is, of course, all perception. some might argue that english is being spiced up, added vigour. perhaps language is simply doing what it always does, evolving. whether in a physical sense (the laziness of jaw, the total lack of respect for diction), english is evolving. spiteful folk (and myself, admittedly) call it devolving. why, then, is diction so important? should we be on guard, rigorously, against the inexorable laziness of our own jaws? what about our new culture is causing us to have such disrespect for the way we communicate with one another? how can we not strive to find the words necessary to say exactly what it is that we are feeling.

there's an episode of the Sopranos. i paraphrase: "well, once we have taken care of food, and hunger, we can concentrate on other pains: like truth, and the search for self." perhaps, then, in this country, with its devolving language, most have not taken care of food, or hunger, or any of the pains which keep us from diving at the bigger things. like communication. being aware of how we convey our thoughts to others, and striving to be as precise as language will allow ...

anyway.

what was i blogging about? oh right. blog blog blog.

i am reading "Godel, Escher, Bach." leave me alone, i don't have an umlaut key. it's fascinating so far, but now i'm in "MEANING AND FORM IN MATHEMATICS" and i find myself having to constantly go back & figure out the formulas, which i assume i haven't understood and then realize it's much more basic than i thought when i finally do understand them. still takes awhile, though. math is not my forte. in fact, i can barely do simple addition. go figure. i compute it via the multiplication tables. doesn't always work, but then, what does.

wrote something yesterday. brand new yellow notebook. seems that even though i have this laptop, old habits die hard. can't just whip out a laptop in the bar from my backpack. nervous about carrying it around everywhere. i find that i rarely unplug it from the charger. hope that's not killing the battery. doesn't seem to be.

more woes, wit & wisdom: next time.