--- "... what Austin, with artless sexism, called the 'trouser-word'" In a message dated 2/26/2009 8:35:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx writes: The ability to generate an infinite number of novel utterances is an essential characteristic of natural languages. ----- Whose ability? Languages' ability? ----- >Here is a case in point. My wife and I are talking about recent debates >within anthropology over the ownership of cultural artifacts (including >intangible artifacts) by the groups that anthropologists study. >Partly what is at stake here is the meme which says that >anthropologists should be ashamed of themselves for, in effect, >ripping off a culture and going off to write their books and articles >with no reward for the people whose lives are being analyzed— >seen as a form of gross colonialist/neoliberal imperialist exploitation. Well, it does seem. That's what I disliked about Slumdog Millonaire! The grossest colonialist/neoliberal imperialist exploitation I've seen in _weeks_! I _never_ witnessed that sort of analysis as _not_ being a gross colonialist neoliberal imperialist exploitation! -- Starting with Malinowski and onto Margaret Mead -- Anthropology, it _is_ recognised, started, unlike philosophy, like _that! McCreery: >The stakes in this debate have, however, risen, >especially in North America, where Native American >assertion of rights to rituals, songs, myths, therapies, >recipes, etc. have converged with the similar claims of >intellectual property lawyers working for the likes of >Disney, who want to assert an eternal and exclusive >right to control all use of, for example, Mickey Mouse. (c) Mickey Mouse, you mean. You're the tops, You're (c) Mickey Mouse! >Then, reflecting on our own research in Taiwan, Ruth >suddenly says, >"You weren't upskirting your Daoist master." >I know what she's saying. Do you? >John >John McCreery >The Word Works c. To turn up at the skirts. 1848 CLOUGH Bothie ii. 96 With blue cotton gown skirted up over striped linsey-woolsey. But back to 'productiveness' -- re: 'up-' in the OED: "Of the numerous formations with up- which have been employed in English, only a limited number are of a permanent character. A large proportion consists of forms employed for nonce, especially for metrical reasons, and the same compound may recur several times without any historical continuity; such isolated occurrences, indeed, are often separated by an interval of several centuries. A number of these are given in the following sections, as illustrations of the various uses of the prefix in the different periods of the language." Cheers, JL **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1218822736x1201267884/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID %3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62) ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html