i'd like to introduce you to a guy named count alfred korzybski. he grew up in a home speaking four different languages. he learned english later and then said some things that have been making my brain itch.

>>our perceptions/conceptions are shaped by the STRUCTURE of the language we use.<<

okay. that means people who speak non-indo-european languages (e.g. chinese, native american, african) quite literally live in a different universe than those of us who speak indo-european only.

and MATH is a language, so those of us literate in it also live in a different semantic system than people who just know verbal structures.

okay, i could go on and on, especially about the theories on "is statements", but really my point is that i really wanted to go to deanne's bbq and secretly converse in nothing but E-PRIME (you know what that is...the ommision of the letter E) you know, just a little thing to entertain the "other" erica.

the results of my little social experiement were disasterous. except for with rufus, (after i explained to him what i was doing, he joined in like the damn cool guy that he is, even though he just said "wow" a lot). but other than that, i did not feel that E-prime clarified or de-dogmatized a damn thing. i just found myself talking slower to people. and these people had a pained look of confusion on their collective face.

i called the whole thing off when i realized that i couldn't say "little weiners."