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Re: Language superiority, improvement, etc.

From:Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
Date:Thursday, October 15, 1998, 22:26
vardi wrote:

> I think part of the problem may be semantic-emotive, relating to the > word "superior." I think most of us are very nervous about applying tha=
t
> to humans, or to human attributes or activities. To me, even saying > "he's a superior tennis player" sounds kind of icky.
Okay, I think the problem is that some people attribute to theword "super= ior" ideas of innateness, while others don't. Nik and I fall in the latter group, while you fall in the former, and there's nothi= ng wrong with that, except that I think the concept (IMO) of discussing the innate qualities of things is a very sketchy issue and doesn't really hel= p. Too often, nothing can be said about what's innate in a thing. It's much easier, and more useful, in the shortrun at least, to talk about the rela= tive values of things (unless of course, you can't find any criteria to object= ively identify them, as we have already discussed :) ). =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Tom Wier <artabanos@...> ICQ#: 4315704 AIM: Deuterotom Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/> "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero." "Schlie=DFt den heil'gen Zirkel dichter, Schw=F6rt bei diesem goldnen Wein, Dem Gel=FCbde treu zu sein, Schw=F6rt es bei dem Sternenrichter!" - _Ode an die Freude_, J. F. von Schiller =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =0D