Tag Archives: random

E-Prime

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Earlier this week, Ruthie wondered if I had cabin fever, writing about Helvetica, pornography, and economics in one week.  The impish side of me wondered what other weird topics I could throw in the mix.  Here it comes: E-prime.  My friend Mel is going back to school and mentioned an assignment to write a paper in E-prime.  I’d never heard of it, have you? 

Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

E-Prime uses a modified English syntax and vocabulary lacking all forms of the verb to be: be, is, am, are, was, were, been and being, including their contractions, such as it’s and I’m. Sentences composed in E-Prime therefore are less likely to contain the passive voice. This approach can force the writer or speaker to think differently, and can make written text easier to read. In eliminating most uses of the passive mode, E-Prime requires the writer to explicitly acknowledge the agent of a sentence.

D. David Bourland Jr. explains, “The name comes from the equation E’ = E – e, where E represents the words of the English language, and e represents the inflected forms of “to be.”

Thus, instead of

Roses are red;
Violets are blue,
Honey is sweet,
And so are you.

E-Prime would express that ditty as:

Roses look red,
Violets look blue.
Honey seems sweet,
And so do you.
 

This is folly to the thirteenth degree!  They believe there are no absolutes.  (And how would you translate that sentence to E-Prime? In their system of metaphysics they classify nothing as an absolute.) In an attempt to curb my natural tendency towards shrillness, let’s laugh at this absurdity.  Can you imagine an E-Prime translation of the Bible?

Moses:  Then what shall I tell them?
God said to Moses, I SEEM that I SEEM.

Jesus:  I evaluate myself as the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

It isn’t right. 

E-Prime advocates are trying to get away from Aristotelian essentialism.  No essences (from the Latin esse – ‘to be’) allowed.    Dr. Donald E. Simanek writes, “Most poetry cannot be rewritten in E-prime. You can’t utter pseudoprofundities like “I think, therefore I am.”…Throw out “My love is like a red, red rose.”  Such constructions encourage vague, imprecise, misleading, ambiguous and foolish writing masquerading as profundity.  We’d have to throw out Shakespeare, which I’d consider no great loss.”

Ay-yi-yi!!  Does Psalm 2 come to mind?  I think writing a paper without using the “to be” forms is a healthy exercise in writing, helpful in learning to show, not tell.  But the root of this is far beyond Writing 101.

I am a woman.  Not: I classify myself in the female gender.
I am a Christian. Not: In my current metaphysical mindset, I choose the subset Christian.
I am happy.  Not; I evaluate myself as happy this morning.

Who are you?

Helvetica

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Some people care about shoes.  They buy them often, they consider carefully which pair to wear, and they notice other people’s shoes, perhaps even judge others by their shoes.  I notice fonts.  I just do.  For the most part, I notice the gag-me awful ones and the perfectly fitting fonts.  A realtor in our small town just established his own business: his signs are the most artless, ugly, horrific, disaster of graphic art.  My daughter-in-law and I just point and groan when we see them. 

I used to make the common mistake of using multiple fonts in a document when so many first became available. (cringe) I remember my first encounter with Helvetica back in 1988: the Director of Admissions sat at my desk and rhapsodized about the clean lines, sans serif, readability, attractiveness, etc. etc.  I don’t fuss with fonts much with blogging, but with other documents I spend time clicking, trying different fonts, judging their appeal.  I will not use Times New Roman.  Comic Sans seems too childish, a good choice only if you’re typing a thank you note from a six month old. 

Using Netflix’s Watch Instantly, I enjoyed Gary Hustwit’s documentary, Helvetica.  The 80 minute film gives the history of the font designed by Max Miedinger in 1957 in Switzerland. You meet two dozen graphic designers, who discuss their use or non-use of Helvetica. 

The parts I enjoyed the most were the three-minute sequences of signs –street signs, business signs, slogans on clothes, billboards, civic signs– which were interspersed between the interviews with the designers.   Helvetica is truly ubiquitous.  Even the IRS tax forms are printed with it!  Here are some tidbits I scribbled down as I watched:

         ~  “Creating order is typology.”

          ~  the DNA of letter forms (these designers are passionate; but I loved that turn of phrase)

          ~  “Graphic designers can’t see historical movies because the fonts are always wrong.”

          ~  If you are heavy in the middle you wouldn’t wear tight tee shirts.  Helvetica is heavy in the middle and needs lots of white space around it.

          ~  ABH = anything but Helvetica

          ~  Helvetica came out of modernism.  Grunge typography came out of postmodernism.  Designers today are swinging back to Helvetica but are using it in unique or more creative ways.

Now, it was an enjoyable DVD for a cold, January Sunday afternoon while my husband napped, but I wouldn’t spend money to watch it.  There was a sprinkling of salty language and a few salty images (especially in the grunge section.)  If you get off on graphic design and fonts, you may enjoy it.

What is your favorite font?

Random Notes on a Saturday Morning

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Lea, our niece, with a pound cake she made for her uncle.
Lea is reading The Diary of Anne Frank with a will.
When she is finished,  we will watch  Freedom Writers.
Has anyone seen it? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

†   †    †

We listened to an excellent lecture by Peter Kreeft
which BTW is pronounced “Krayft”:
10 Uncommon Insights into Evil from Lord of the Rings.
A friend sent this to us in May and unfortunately it got buried in my inbox.
After I began it, I realized that we all needed to listen together.

This is worthy of your time whether you are a LOTR fan or not.
Cogent, articulate, penetrating, clear, enjoyable.
Caveat: it is 48 minutes long.
Bonus: it is a free download.
Go ahead and listen to a few minutes…

†   †   †

My grandson Gavin, satisfied in his Opa’s (great-grandpa’s) lap.
Gavin is a joy-bringer, a smile-maker, a contentment-holder.

Gavin is great at
…spontaneous vocalizing
…making silly faces by raising eyebrows contorting his mouth

… standing outside the loo and conversing with the occupant
…loving babies (he takes after his daddy)

***Dover Books has another sale.  All titles are 25% off
through Monday, December 3rd with $40 order.
Coupon Code: CZ25


Monday Miscellany

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~ Gambling is stealing from yourself.

I’ve never thought of it this way, but a few stanzas in The Inferno caught my attention. 

Man can raise violent hands against himself
and his own goods; so in the second round,
paying the debt that never can be paid,

are suicides, self-robbers of your world,
or those who gamble all their wealth away
and weep up there when they should have rejoiced.

While throwing away money isn’t a sin I struggle with, throwing away time is a form of stealing which I participate in.


~ Pish! Drivel! Waffle! Balderdash!

Quote of the weekend from the series To Serve Them All My Days.  These words were one master’s description of student exams as he returned them, graded, to his students. 

~ A fun resource

There are several books in this genre, but of the ones I own, this is my favorite.  Friday night DH and I were reviewing the next day’s duties shortly before we slipped into sleep. One of us said, “You can count on me.”  My husband wondered aloud how counting came to mean depending. That was it!  No sleep for me until I looked it up.  He teased me that I wouldn’t be able to sleep without telling him what I discovered; which was just enough of a dare that I clammed up in fits of giggling.  Then he squirreled the word “count” into every other sentence for the next two days. 

My first foray into phrase origins came from a fellow word bird who explained the phrase “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”  Kelly told me that cat was short for catfish, which is a prickly, difficult to handle fish. 

~  Why is *finishing* such a challenge to people like me?

The kitchen project is 90% completed.  It is the matter of one evening or one afternoon to finish it.  Yet, I hold back.  Part of it is perfectionism: this isn’t done to the highest standard, it never can be, so I am very hesitant to say with authority, “It’s done!”  But mostly it is a character flaw.  It is fairly easy to begin a new project with enthusiasm and oomph;  it’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax to put it to bed.

~  Any ideas on managing email? 

I manage my email the same way I grew up managing my bedroom: let things pile up and then deal with Mt. McKinley in one long cleaning frenzy.  Certain friends respond immediately to each email.  I bet they wake up at 5:00 a.m. every day too.  Others may never respond.  I fall in the middle.  I try to respond to each email but it could be weeks later.  And then I might send four or five emails replying to four or five former messages.   It must frustrate them and clog up their system.

My son taught me to use folders and I have a folder for each sender/recipient.  These are where store emails I want to keep.  I don’t move a message from the Inbox to personal folder until I’ve responded and there is no further action to take.  I’ve recently been working through my Sent folder which had over 1,000 items. I’m deleting ephemeral messages and distributing more substantive emails to personal folders so correspondence back and forth is in one place. 

Neil Postman is right:  we’re drowning in information.  How dost thou deal with such things, dear reader? Is there anyone out there who just deletes them ALL?  Yikes!

Random Ramblings

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»  One of my piano students is learning the bass clef line notes.  Do you remember the mnemonic ditties?  The bass clef space notes are ACEG: All Cows Eat Grass.  The bass clef lines are GBDFA; and we all know that Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always. I must have skipped over this self evident truth. My dear little student  made up her own menmonic starting from the top: All Fat Dinosaur Babies Growl. =)

»   Last week I heard what qualifies as the Most Absurd Question in the world.  My friend told me about going to a neurologist who asked her:

Have you been bathing in toxic substances?

Say What??  She was tempted to reply, “Only on Tuesdays.”

»   On our way home yesterday we saw a lovely little family of wild turkeys.  Approaching them made them skittish but here are a couple pictures.

»   Add these “just borrowed” books to my Summer Reading Challenge.  The Good Husband of Zebra Drive  by Alexander McCall Smith and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

»  Add these “must reads” to my Summer Reading Challenge: North of Ithaka by Eleni Gage and Eleni by Nicholas Gage.  HT (and thanks) to Di.  My niece is in Greece!  She’s not yet, but “will be in Greece” doesn’t pop with the same rhythm.  My niece received a fellowship to study in Greece this summer. [Doesn’t that sound like a spelling sentence?] So while she is soaking up the Athenian sun, I must read something that will help me be with her in spirit.  Eleni is at our library in both the book and the audiobook. I love, love, love, books about other cultures, as evidenced in the four additions to my summer list.

»   Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is due back at the library today, no more renewals.  It’s taking some time to copy so many passages into my journal.  “Becoming a better writer is going to help you become a better reader, and that is the real payoff.” p. 10

Silly Language Lessons

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Semper ubi sub ubi.

One of the moments in our Latin class was when all the young students laughed at this and our beloved teacher, a giant in the academy, scratched his head and looked confused. 

You see, it makes no sense in Latin.

Only beginning students understand this. 

Semper (last syllable sounds like air) = always
Ubi (the vowel sounds in movie) = where
Sub (sounds like tube) = under

Get it?

                     ~    ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~ 

Let’s switch to French.  The following is gibberish in French. 
Instead of the transliteration above, it is more a transcription of sounds. 

If you’ve never studied French, here are Carol’s easy rules of French pronunciation:

    Talk through your nose.
    Don’t pronounce the last letters of half of the words.

See if you can make sense of this.  You really need to speak this aloud, even if you are at work.

“Un petit d’un petit

S’étonne au hall

Un petit d’un petit

Ah! degrés de folles

Un dol de qui ne sort cesse

Un dol de qui ne se mène

Qu’importe un petit d’un petit

Tout Gai de Reguennes.”

I first read this in 1983 and laughed myself silly.  Now when I hear the English version, I speak along, in my head, with its Fr’anglais counterpart.

                     ~    ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~ 

Last one, folks.  Same idea as above.

Et qui rit des curés d’Oc?
De Meuse raines, houp! de cloques.
De quelles loques ce turque coin.
Et ne d’anes ni rennes,

Ecuries des curés d’Oc.

If you figure these out, leave a comment.  Happy Thursday!

[Added later: I decided to resurrect my French which has been resting in peace since 1975.  If you want to **hear** me recite these pieces, it might make more sense.]


Random

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~  Opera practice (Carmen) continues.  The director put us into groupings with little back-stories to play out when we’re not singing.  I keep a boarding house for the four girls in my group who work at the cigarette factory.  I’m supposed to guard their reputation.  Opera choruses, so we’re told, have only 4 jobs: to be happy, sad, angry or shocked.  We are a happy chorus.

~  Honestly?  The best part of the Super Bowl for me?  Billy Joel’s piano playing during the National Anthem.  Diminished and augmented chords – I really liked his style of playing.  And I was thankful that he sang it straight.  All the note-bending attempts of some singers to be cutting-edge are wearisome.

~  A family of cougars moved onto the hill about three blocks from our house.  They have been harrassing humans; there were three reports last weekend.  It is my goal to hike to the top of this hill on my 50th birthday.  I am by nature a wuss.  You see the problem. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

~ This week my son and I will finish reading through the Latin Psalms.  We started in September 2004, reading about 10 verses a day.   We don’t get it all; we read through the English translation too. Nevertheless, certain phrases are embedding themselves in us.

~ I refuse to buy boring postage stamps.  My current favorites are Baseball Sluggers.  I was so sad when they ran out of Mary Cassatt stamps. Which ones do you like?

~  If you had a guest bedroom on the southwest corner of your house, with oak floors and one southern window, which colors would you recommend for the walls and accent?  I’m floundering at making a decision.  Monochromaticism has been a previous decorating sin I wish to repent of without swinging to garishness.  Do you have a guest room?  What color is it?