[lit-ideas] Re: True alarms
- From: Mike Geary <jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:43:29 -0600
To me, black clouds mean God is angry, and when God gets angry, it's time to
build an ark. Or at least an arch, a metonymy for church -- the rest can be
left off since God is usually appeased by figures of speech. If not, a
bishop can be named in charge of the arch. Even God won't argue with an arch
bishop. Take Grice for instance, or take a poem I once wrote. Wordly It
went:
Dark clouds gather over these small towns of the Delta
like some ancient anger beyond expiation,
deracinating winds rip at what's rooted.
There are rifle racks in pickups,
clubs under counters, pistols under pillows,
sirens are wailing,
everyone is ready,
everyone expecting
a storm
of metaphors.
Whatever.
Mike Geary
Memphis
On Sat, Jan 15, 2011 at 4:48 PM, <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> The other day we were having coffee in a sidewalk cafe, and there was a
> signal of a storm. It came to nothing. "A false alarm," I said to my friend.
> "Gricean analysis needed" I thought to myself. It seems people misuse the
> expression, 'true alarm'. Indeed, they hardly use it, but if they would,
> they would misuse it.
>
> For Grice, 'mean' can be 'natural', as in:
>
> ------ Those black clouds mean rain.
>
> or 'non-natural', as in:
>
> ------ Her crocodile tears.
>
>
> ------ Similarly, alarms, I hold, alla Peirce, can be _false_ (the
> well-known ones) or 'true'. The first use of 'sema' (Greek for 'sign') in
> Herodotus relates to that.
>
> I would say that if black clouds MEAN-n (or indicate) rain, YET there is no
> rain, a true alarm was a mere implicature.
>
> In Grice's idiolect,
>
> ------ Those clouds meant rain, but there was no rain.
>
> is a contradiction. To me, it is what I call a Griceo-contradiction, via
> implicature, not entailment. Cheers. Speranza, Bordighera, etc.
>
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