[lit-ideas] How Very Peculiar
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:02:16 EDT
Re: Pekuliaritaet
"For the snark is a peculiar creature..."
R. Paul quotes from Wittgenstein:
"A French politician once wrote that it was a peculiarity of the French
language that in it words occur in the order in which one thinks them.)".
I d
I wonder if this is Ogden's (or as I suppose it is, D. F. Pears and B. F.
McGuinness') translation.
There seems to be some implicature around the use of 'peculiarity', though.
As when people say, "in no particular order" when whatever _order_ they
choose *is* particular (or peculiar).
So I don't think Wittgenstein is saying that this French politician actually
_wrote_ that it as a _unique_ peculiarity of the French language.
But 'peculiar' is _not_ a word I'd use. In any case, I don't think it can be
claimed that the French politician wrote that _only_ the French language
displays this peculiarity.
Some quotes below. Consider one:
"That a piece of opium will dead the force and blow of a bullet I find
herein no such peculiarity, no more then in any gum or viscose body."
Here, the peculiarity is the disposition 'to dead (?) the force and blow of
a bullet". Surely there must be more things than a piece of opium which do
that.
I particularly object to what I regard as a vacuity about the use of
'peculiarity' as when an author tries to be witty. And what's worse, when an
author
(such as Wittgenstein) is trying to poke fun of what somebody else (who is
not present to rebut him) said. Cfr. another OED quote:
1989 P. ACKROYD First Light xxi. 81
"It was a peculiarity of Julian's temperament that he assumed everyone would
agree with his own estimate of himself."
Surely it's conceivable that many people (fictional included) would share
this 'peculiarity' which thus cease to be a peculiarity.
Cheers,
JL
J. L. Speranza, Esq.
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Calle Arenales 2021, Piso 5, St. 8,
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jls@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
_http://www.netverk/~jls.htm_ (http://www.netverk/~jls.htm)
----
1606 _H. WOTTON_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-w3.html#h-wotton)
Let. 6 Dec. in L. P. Smith Life & Lett. Sir H. Wotton
(1907) (modernized text) I. 372
It seemeth fit..in all event to repeat this peculiarity received from the
party at Milan.
1646 _SIR T. BROWNE_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-b4.html#sir-t-browne)
Pseudodoxia Epidemica II. v. 90
That a piece of opium will dead the force and blow [of a bullet]..I finde
herein no such peculiarity, no more then in any gumme or viscose body.
1799 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 89 309 The kind of marble which had been
called Dolomite, from M. Dolomieu, who first remarked its peculiarity in
dissolving slowly.
Ditto here. Surely dissolving slowly is _not_ unique of the Dolomite.
1832 _J. AUSTIN_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-a2.html#j-austin)
Province Jurispr. (1879) I. i. 91
A command is a signification of desire; but is distinguished..by this
peculiarity: that the party to whom it is directed is [etc.].
--? distinguished from what? Surely _everything_ (and not just for J.
Austin) is party-directed.
1854 _J. H. NEWMAN_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-n.html#j-h-newman)
Lect. Hist. Turks II. i. 72
It is a peculiarity of Asia that its regions are either very hot or very
cold.
-- Ditto for Argentina, or as Geary will agree, Kansas.
1880 19th Cent. Sept. 426
Has borrowed English been a peculiarity of the last two or three centuries?
1919 _W. S. MAUGHAM_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-m2.html#w-s-maugham)
Moon & Sixpence xlviii. 209
To them he was no more than a beach-comber in constant need of money,
remarkable only for the peculiarity that he painted pictures which seemed to
them
absurd.
-- Shared with Piccaso.
1989 P. ACKROYD First Light xxi. 81
It was a peculiarity of Julian's temperament that he assumed everyone would
agree with his own estimate of himself.
1610 _BP. J. HALL_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-h.html#bp-j-hall)
Epist. V. ii. 24 What neede we to disclaime all
peculiarity in goods?
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