[lit-ideas] Mitfordiana
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2015 09:24:20 -0500
In a message dated 2/15/2015 3:29:57 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
Palma@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
"Alas Harvard was a person, hence calling Harvard Harvard university is
just fine and dandy even by the silly gricean maxims. Padua university is
called padua university exactly because both exists and padua-city got there
way before the university and its faculties came into being.
I think Mitford is thinking of specific contexts.
i. Jones went to Padua to study economics.
ii. Jones went to Padua.
iii. Jones graduated from Padua.
I THINK Mitford has in mind examples like (i): "to study economics" would
seem to implicate that it's the university of Padua that is referred to,
hence
iv. Jones went to Padua University to study economics.
WOULD violate a Griceian maxim.
With Harvard it seems to work very similarly.
The fact that I believe Harvard was originally referred to as Harvard
COLLEGE (which should also be avoided) rather than UNIVERSITY may be the reason
behind this.
Oxford is slightly different.
Grice went to Corpus Christi.
You don't need to add "College", and even less, "Grice went to Corpus
Christi College, Oxford University". That would violate Griceian maxims
_twice_,
and trigger all the wrong implicatures.
Mitford extend her approach to other places too.
"We're dining at Blenheim Palace" would be non-U as she calls it. The thing
_is_ a palace, not far from Oxford, but
"We're dining at Blenheim."
just does.
Cheers,
Speranza
* Mitford is basing her research not so much on Grice but Ross, of
Birmingham.
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