Consideration of Blogging

I often wonder why I 'blog' and today is no exception. I can see from my little map (bottom right of the screen) that I have had 'hits' from all over the world. But are such people actively seeking out my mundanities or were they simply looking for their nearest coffee bean supplier in the anticipation of a dark, rich cup of monsoon malabar? Did they then see an apparently relevant Google result only to find themselves perusing these inane ramblings before moving on, dissapointed, disgusted and embittered?

Assuming, on the other hand, that I do have willing readers, it is difficult to know what to write about. I am of the belief that one should write in order to be read so that what one writes is partly determined by what one's readers want to read.

Gentle readers: what shall I write? The things that fill my head are of too bizarre or arcane a character to be of general interest, I fear:

I feel like a stroke victim whose brain's 'God spot' is the seat of the clot. And if that were not enough, these words from Nick Cave have been haunting me ever since I heard the suggestion that with the human capacity for great intelligence goes the tendency towards self-destruction:

Don't it make you feel so sad, don't the blood rush to your feet /
To think that everything you do today, tomorrow is obsolete? /
Technology and women and little children too /
Don't it make you feel blue? Don't it make you feel blue?

It's much better with music so, if you don't already know it, check out the album Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! As the t-shirt has it, humanity is underrated; and a true saying. But for very different reasons, it is overrated. There's plenty of humanism, which is a good thing, but there's also plenty of hubris. If only we could find the via media...

On a completely unrelated subject, I have discovered the meaning of 'cony'. I first came across the word at Ps. 104: 18, which apparently refers to a kind of hyrax (I know, sweet, aren't they?). I gather that in Old English and in some current English dialects it refers to a (sometimes young) rabbit. But cony is also, more rarely, a verb meaning 'to act the rabbit'. The OED quotes Florio in 1611 defining it thus:

Coniglieggiare, to cunnie, to play the cunnie, to bee fearefull and lurke in holes.

I look forward to hearing about what you would like to read here, gentle reader, and whether this post 'hits the spot'. Do leave a some 'remarks' or feel free to e-mail me. I am among you as one who serves.

'Muffin', Language Use and Beards

I have just eaten a muffin and this led me to reflect of the meaning of the word 'muffin'. Some web searching reveals that what I've eaten is called an 'English muffin' in North America and is also known as a 'hot muffin' or 'breakfast muffin'. Like toast and crumpets, it can be eaten with sweet or savoury accompaniment. But there is no way, in the UK, of distinguishing the two kinds of thing that are called 'muffins' - people hardly go around talking about 'hot' or 'breakfast' muffins in order to distinguish what I've eaten from the sweet, cake-like muffins which are baked in muffin tins. Yet another instance, I reflected, of language use being determined by an ongoing practice of reference and by the context in which words are used. Would the context invariably make it clear what kind of muffin I'm talking about? I rather doubt it.

On a different note, I came across this chap's website today. I was frankly alarmed! He surely cannot be serious when he writes

I suggest that a better test would be to shave half a person's beard off, but not tell them which half.

I love the fact that he is careful to use terms that are non-gender-specific. And if you do as he suggests, and click on the link at the bottom of the page to see him six weeks later, it becomes even more obvious that he has no regard for how other people might perceive him. Not only was he content to perform 'outdoor activities' (presumably in public) with half a beard, but was not at all worried about staying like that until the shaved half grew back and even then without trimming it so that the halves were even. Perhaps he imagines that the shorter half will 'catch up'.

I have found some evidence here and here that such things are considered fashionable but it's not at all clear that these people are not taking the piss.

Londinium

I'm presently in London, trying my best not to start work on the thesis again. The next stage is to read through the second and third of three lectures by William Alston. Though a different aspect of my work has been occupying my thoughts for most of today. It will have to be taken slowly and with Stoicism.

Speaking of that ancient school of philosophy, I'm very much of the opinion that philosophy is, or ought to be, improving [Edit: I'm using this as a transitive verb.]. It should not address its questions in abstraction from lived experience but should be intimately related to life, transforming. This approach to philosophy can be discerned throughout its long history but it has received little in the way of explicit articulation, especially recently. Of course there are exceptions: this book being a notable example, with its focus on a very specific period in the history of philosophy. All of us need to start doing more philosophy of this kind.

I think a similar argument could be made with respect to language. Language does far more than simply denote objects and relationships in the 'real world', rather it constitutes and cements our engagement with that world, without which the very concept of 'world' would be meaningless. I think this is roughly what Heidegger meant when he famously claimed that language 'speaks' man. Some of the best playwrights have intuited this idea. Harold Pinter, whose superb No Man's Land I was fortunate enough to see recently, makes language world-transforming in his plays and, by extension, an instrument of power. David Mamet's style is not dissimilar and I'm very much looking forward to his lecture to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 tonight.

For a more light-hearted take on the topic of language Stephen Fry's blog post, and the following clip, should entertain: