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Re: A question of semantics

From:David Barrow <davidab@...>
Date:Thursday, August 7, 2003, 23:03
I mistook someone for Jenny? or better still, and to be more one- of-
the-five- senses specific, if we can say we mishear people why not 'missee'
people?

I 'missaw' Jenny today

David Barrow

Estel Telcontar wrote:

> This, what you're talking about here, gets me into a tangled knot of > thoughts, which I'm going to try to disentangle. I'm not sure how much > of these thoughts are relevant to what you're talking about. > > First, your example reminds me of a specific instance where I've never > found adequate words to express the kind of certainty/uncertainty of an > experience. I'm thinking of an experience that we've probably all had, > though I sometimes think it occurs to me with a higher-than-average > frequency (often several times daily): the experience of "seeing" > someone, only to look again and find it's someone you don't know. > Let's say the person I didn't actually see is called Jenny. > > The problem is, I can't say "I saw Jenny", because it wasn't actually > her. > > I also can't say "I thought I saw Jenny", because that makes it all > sound too intentional - like I actually believed I saw Jenny till I > looked again and saw it wasn't her. But that's also wrong, because > after "seeing" Jenny, I was aware that, given the briefness of the > "seeing", and the frequency with which I mistakenly "see" people, it > most likely wasn't her. > > If I say "I saw someone who looked like Jenny", that makes it sound > like I knew all along that it wasn't Jenny, but that I saw someone and > observed that they bore a resemblance to Jenny. > > Another interesting kind of uncertainty: remembering an event, but not > recalling of the main character in it is yourself or someone else. I > find this occasionally - I will be telling a friend about something > that I remember, and I will remember the event, and that I was present, > but I can't remember what role I played, if I was a main character, or > just an observer. > > Estel > > --- Nick Maclaren wrote: > (...) > > > In "I saw the rabbit", it is easy to express an uncertainty of > > detail on "rabbit", such as by "something rabbitlike". Similarly, > > one can express uncertainty of event on the whole sentence by > > prefixing it by "I think that". But how do you express > > uncertainty of either detail or event on "saw" in a way that is > > practical for use in speech? > > > > "I either saw or otherwise perceived the rabbit". But even that > > does not distinguish "seeing or hearing" from "seeing or having a > > (perhaps mistaken) visual impression of". And what about "saw or > > had a visual memory of (perhaps a vivid dream)"? All of these are > > uncertainty concepts that are very hard to express in English, but > > which I find that I want to use. > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca