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Discussion Groups / British English / March 2006The anthropomorphic universe
TV often uses dramatic language to pep up documentaries about the universe - I once heard the orbit of a distant planet (fast and close to its sun) described as "terrifying". I wonder who was terrified. But now I see New Scientist doing the same thing - <http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8862&feedId=online-news_rss20> <http://tinyurl.com/znjgc> <<The universe went through a traumatic growth spurt before it was a billionth of a billionth of a second old...>> <<The probe has also given physicists their first clues about what drove that frantic expansion...>> I wonder who was traumatised and frantic.  SignaturePhil C. |TV often uses dramatic language to pep up documentaries about the |universe - I once heard the orbit of a distant planet (fast and close [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] | |I wonder who was traumatised and frantic. Don't complain at us, write a letter to the New Scientist, there is a chance it might get published. They have a full page of such mistakes in "Feedback" so you may get your name included there :-) SignatureDave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> Freedom of Speech, Expression, Religion, and Democracy are the keys to Civilization, together with legal acceptance of Fundamental Human rights. >TV often uses dramatic language to pep up documentaries about the >universe - I once heard the orbit of a distant planet (fast and close [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >I wonder who was traumatised and frantic. God knows. SignatureRobin Bignall Hoddesdon, England >>I wonder who was traumatised and frantic. > God knows. Do you think the Big Bang scared God then? A bit like when you plug something in and there's a flash, a bang and all the lights go out? Perhaps the Creation was an accident- not so much intelligent design, as tune for maximum smoke? Paul Burke >>>I wonder who was traumatised and frantic. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Perhaps the Creation was an accident- not so much intelligent design, as >tune for maximum smoke? I hope those were merely rhetorical questions, Paul. I wonder if I've used a bit of local Midlands dialect that is not commonly used elsewhere. When I were a lad, and something unusual happened, the standard response to a question such as "How do you think that happened, then?" was "God knows", meaning "I haven't got a clue". SignatureRobin Bignall Hoddesdon, England >>>>I wonder who was traumatised and frantic. >> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >standard response to a question such as "How do you think that >happened, then?" was "God knows", meaning "I haven't got a clue". I think that's pretty common. It's sometimes given emphasis as "God alone knows". But I like the idea of the SNAFU theory of the universe. It might make a lot of sense. SignaturePhil C. At 14:16:11 on Sun, 19 Mar 2006, Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> wrote in <3lpq12dduredm082vtfhs1ths16u9o7svd@4ax.com>: >>I wonder if >>I've used a bit of local Midlands dialect that is not commonly used >>elsewhere. When I were a lad, and something unusual happened, the >>standard response to a question such as "How do you think that >>happened, then?" was "God knows", meaning "I haven't got a clue". >I think that's pretty common. It's sometimes given emphasis as "God >alone knows". Or, of course, "God only knows". Has everyone forgotten the Beach Boys already? :-( SignatureMolly Mockford They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin (My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) >>I think that's pretty common. It's sometimes given emphasis as "God >>alone knows". > >Or, of course, "God only knows". Has everyone forgotten the Beach Boys >already? :-( Then there was the man who went to a fancy dress party with a condom on his nose. SignaturePhil C. >At 14:16:11 on Sun, 19 Mar 2006, Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> >wrote in <3lpq12dduredm082vtfhs1ths16u9o7svd@4ax.com>: [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Or, of course, "God only knows". Has everyone forgotten the Beach Boys >already? :-( But "God only knows" doesn't mean the same as "only God knows", and it's the latter which would IMO equate to "God alone knows". SignatureJohn Hall "Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history." George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) At 21:05:35 on Sun, 19 Mar 2006, John Hall <nospam_nov03@jhall.co.uk> wrote in <IvM$LbEfecHEFwRb@jhall.demon.co.uk>: >>At 14:16:11 on Sun, 19 Mar 2006, Phil C. <philstoxicwaste@fsmail.net> >>wrote in <3lpq12dduredm082vtfhs1ths16u9o7svd@4ax.com>: [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >But "God only knows" doesn't mean the same as "only God knows", and it's >the latter which would IMO equate to "God alone knows". If "God only knows how I feel about you" doesn't mean "Only God knows how I feel about you", does it therefore mean "The only thing God knows is how I feel about you"? Or what? I vaguely remember that at school we were given the sentence "My sister blew her nose" and required to insert the word "only" in every possible position, thus: Only my sister blew her nose My only sister blew her nose My sister only blew her nose My sister blew only her nose My sister blew her only nose My sister blew her nose only Versatile word, "only". SignatureMolly Mockford They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin (My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) > Only my sister blew her nose > My only sister blew her nose > My sister only blew her nose > My sister blew only her nose > My sister blew her only nose > My sister blew her nose only What's the tune? > > Only my sister blew her nose > > My only sister blew her nose [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > What's the tune? It could only sound like a Sousa march. >If "God only knows how I feel about you" doesn't mean "Only God knows >how I feel about you", does it therefore mean "The only thing God knows >is how I feel about you"? Or what? I think that your suggested meaning is correct - though no doubt the Beach Boys didn't intend it to be interpreted that way. But I was being pedantic because, after all, that's what this group is for. :) >I vaguely remember that at school we were given the sentence "My sister >blew her nose" and required to insert the word "only" in every possible [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Versatile word, "only". Yep. Some of those raise some bizarre possibilities if the restriction imposed by "only" was to be removed. For the fourth: my sister blew her nose and then her ears. For the fifth: my sister blew both her noses. For the sixth: my sister blew first her own nose and then mine. SignatureJohn Hall "Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history." George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) > >If "God only knows how I feel about you" doesn't mean "Only God > >knows how I feel about you", does it therefore mean "The only thing > >God knows is how I feel about you"? Or what? > I think that your suggested meaning is correct - though no doubt the > Beach Boys didn't intend it to be interpreted that way. But I was > being pedantic because, after all, that's what this group is for. :) Being pedantic, if it is the only thing God knows, surely it would have to be written "God knows only how I feel about you"? For support in this contention, I refer you to your last remark, below. > >I vaguely remember that at school we were given the sentence "My > >sister blew her nose" and required to insert the word "only" in [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > > >Versatile word, "only". > Yep. Some of those raise some bizarre possibilities if the > restriction imposed by "only" was to be removed. For the fourth: my > sister blew her nose and then her ears. For the fifth: my sister blew > both her noses. For the sixth: my sister blew first her own nose and > then mine. SignatureDavid - toro-danyo atcost uku fullstop co fullstop uk http://www.toro-danyo.uku.co.uk/ ><<The universe went through a traumatic growth spurt before it was a >billionth of a billionth of a second old...>> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >I wonder who was traumatised and frantic. I disagree with the assumption that scientific inquiries and observations should be devoid of lyrical analogue. Depending on the subject matter, most papers submitted for peer review should probably be matter-of-fact, but when a writer wishes to engage the public, I see no reason to make the composition palatable. Science writers like Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, E.O Wilson, Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Stephen Hawking and Isaac Asimov use prose (brilliantly at times) to engage the reader. It can make a complex subject or rarefied context meaningful. No one can easily grasp what a trillionth of a second is, or what 800 million light- years is. It's even harder to get people to wrap themselves around things like the reprentativeness heuristic or RNA action without relating to similar functions in daily life. As an American, I know all to well the penalty of a public poorly educated in science. We could use more science writing that appeals to the average reader. And yes, expanding thousands of light-years in a trillionth of a second is traumatic and frantic - on a human, geologic and even galactic scale. - TR |
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