[lit-ideas] Re: Translation Problem
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:09:47 -0700
On Sep 16, 2011, at 6:52 PM, John Wager wrote:
> Walter C. Okshevsky wrote:
>> Interesting. Young people's disregard of correct grammar may generalize to a
>> disregard for other normative expectations, including moral requirements.
>> "Normative" refers to the possibility of right and wrong, and thus of being
>> mistaken. But if young people today are unaware of a grammatical distinction
>> between "what is correct" and "what seems correct to me" or "who cares what
>> is
>> deemed to be 'correct'" then their conception of the "normative" is already
>> askew at the git-go.
>
> On the other hand, this skepticism about grammar might mean a recognition of
> the difference between "convention" and "morality."
>
> Where an apostrophe goes, or whether there is an apostrophe at all, is a
> conventional standard that can be modified without destroying the ability to
> communicate. Lots of students see other students who are "deficient" in
> grammar being able to communicate well enough to obtain a degree of material
> success, so they recognize that language skills are not absolutely necessary.
> Other students don't really recognize how "conventional" a lot of our
> standards are, and see morality and grammar as equally binding, accepting the
> conventional in both as completely normative. The skeptics may be able to
> see how a rational standard of morality is not just a conventional standard
> better than the more traditional student.
>
>> We would then not expect them to understand at the
>> meta-cognitive level that, like you know, there are certain imperatives that
>> are categorical for all rationally autonomous agents.
>>
There's a pub in Portland that used to be owned by a "character." "Happy Hour
is for whores and amateurs" is one of his more repeatable utterances. I didn't
like him or his pub much. He died. The new owners have spruced up the
bathrooms, which is to say that they must have hired someone like Mr. O'R. of
"Fawlty Towers" fame to spray paint everywhere. They put up a new sign on
"our" door: "lad's." Clearly, if we return, we shall now have to enter the
bogs with... singularity.
David Ritchie,
minding his pees and queues in
Portland, Oregon
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