[lit-ideas] Re: Snow is white, and Grass is green (Collected Papers by Tarski)

These statements from various Anglo-Saxon language philosophers ("2+2=4", "grass is green", "snow is white", etc.) remind me of Aristotelian science.
For several centuries, people accepted Aristotles' statements as both theory and fact and never bothered to look at the actual world.
Theorectical statements about language are about as useful as theorectical statements about the natives of unknown lands. Language isn't a logical set. Logical rules work for some statements, but not for others. If a statement is illogical, it doesn't mean it is wrong. Logic can be within language, but language is not within logic.
To me, that's why language philosophy is boring. It's just a private game for a few academics. 

yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ritchie" <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:13 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Snow is white, and Grass is green (Collected Papers by Tarski) 




On Nov 29, 2007, at 3:09 PM, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx wrote:


Ritchie:

"Well no, because it's not growing all the time. Annual grasses--
native to America--re-seed. Perennial grasses go dormant in the
winter and dry up in the summer. When the grasses are growing they
may be green, but at other times other colors--brown, or seed
color-- apply."

--- What an interesting comment.

I hadn't thought about that. Would you give me the scientific
(names) for at least one variety of _each_.



From chapter one of Virginia Scott Jenkins, "The Lawn, A History of
an American Obsession,"

"When the first European colonists reached America, there were no
perennial lawn of pasture grasses.  The grasses of the East Coast
were predominantly annuals such as broomstraw, common along the
Atlantic coast north of Virginia; wild rye, dominant in the middle
colonies and in parts of New England; and marsh grass.  Native
American village sites, which had been regularly cultivated, had
extensive grassy areas around them, although the Indians kept no
grazing stock.  These grasses were annuals and had a much lower
nutritive quality than those of northwest Europe.  Many colonists
commented on the inferiority of New England and Virginia grasses in
comparison with pastures in England, and one New England settler
wrote in disgust that 'it is so devoid of nutritive vertue, that our
beasts grow lousy with feeding on it, and are much out of heart and
liking.

Broomstraw is Adropogon virginicus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/319418925/

Note the color!

Among the imported grasses were Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon,
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/bermuda_grass.htm ) which actually
originated in Africa, and Poa pratensis, which is now known as
Kentucky bluegrass.  Jenkins says it is native to "Europe or the
Middle East," which is hedging her bets...and grasses.

Here's another site on perennial grasses: http://iaa.umd.edu/umturf/
Weeds/Perennial%20Grass%20Weeds

David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
(where much of America's turf is grown) 

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