[lit-ideas] Re: New Program in Psychoanalysis and Culture
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:49:48 -0230
The smell of bacon in the morning may waft languidly through the house. At least
my bacon does. This does not imply the image of "floating here and there" in the
sense that 2 views or propositions are individuated as discrete items and we end
up moving back and forth repeatedly between them. That is precisely what it
means to "waver between ..." The scent of bacon "wafts" throughout the house,
in a wide variety of directions. It lingers not simply "here and there" but
here and there and everywhere.
(In truth, this is the kind of concept that only Russians are able to
comprehensively understand: evanescent and fleeting, yet identifiable and
communicable.)
Obviously having completed correcting the tests,
Walter O.
Quoting John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>:
> On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 5:22 AM, Paul Stone <pastone@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> You are confusing "wafting" (which is in fact a real word, but which
> > has nothing to do with decision making) and "WAFFLING" which, unless
> > you are making those crispy breakfast treats (or doing something
> > really misogynistic and naughty -- look it up for yourself) DOES.
> >
>
> No confusion here. "Waft" = "to be driven or carried along, as by the air"
> evokes the image of floating here and there. "Waffle," like "waver" imagines
> a choice among options, the chooser being unable to make up his or her mind.
> That is precisely why wafting from one proposition to another is a fair
> description of brainstorming, in which the censor is turned off and the mind
> allowed to flow freely, while waffling or wavering is associated with being
> trapped.
> Is brainstorming a part of decision-making? Depends on how narrow your
> definition of decision-making is. Assume that the options are given and the
> task is to choose only one from among them, and brainstorming, allowing
> thoughts to waft here and there, is excluded. In many situations, however,
> the options are not given; exploring, as business folk like to say, "outside
> the box" becomes a vital part of decision-making, now construed in a broader
> sense that includes looking for options as well as choosing among them.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John (who very much appreciates the poem about the blackbirds to which Eric
> called our attention)
>
>
> --
> John McCreery
> The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
> Tel. +81-45-314-9324
> http://www.wordworks.jp/
>
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