Re: Letf / Right, was Re: Count and mass nouns

--- Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...>
wrote:

> Yeah, and how would you define the words left
> and right?
How do you define "love"? When you get down to
it, a lot of simple and basic concepts defy easy
answers. You can make comparisons (the dictionary
goes into orienting self towards north, which
makes the sun rise on the right); you can draw a
picture and label it; you can accept whichever
one your mam told you is "left".

In the end, it's your internal selfreference that
will tell you what left and right are, once this
inner sense has been informed as to the name
appropriate for the side in question.

If you're not so informed, you make something up
like "this side" and "t' other side".

> How would you explain them to an
> ET, without
> pointing at them with your finger ?
I wouldn't - and it is nonsense to have to. You
point and say "left".

> How do you know that your right hand is not the
> left one ?
It's a socio-cultural thing that the utterance
/lEft/ is associated with the left side, while
/Rajt/ (American R) is associated with the right
side.

Padraic.


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