Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Names of names

My friend Justin has an article at 3 Quarks Daily in which he makes the following point:
The Neanderthals, I should not have to point out, were illiterate, and the presence or absence of an "h" in the word for "valley" in a language that would not exist until several thousand years after their extinction was a matter of utter indifference to them.
Quite right. Now read the rest.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dave, let's meet in the next two weeks. Call me. (We've been doing the "let's meet soon" dance for to long.)

And I want you to start writing for 3QD. Will you?

Anonymous said...

If I weren't a foreigner I would let this go and imagine that you would just dismiss it as a typo, but as it is, I am insecure enough to have to write agin just to say that I meant "too long" in the previous comment.

Why do I lack confidence?

Tell me Dave, TELL ME!

Anonymous said...

This could become an infinite series. I meant "again" by "agin" in the last message. Let's see if it converges or diverges...

Duck said...

While we Wittgensteinians do indeed refer at times to the need for philosophical "therapy," I'm afraid it's not the kind that can tell you why you lack confidence (which I doubt in any case). And it's hard to imagine you saying "agin" in that plummy accent. I dunno about writing for 3QD. I'll think about it.