Well, like a lot of people I forgot about the email we got a few weeks ago to let us know that Middlesex systems would be down for the next few days. I'm out of email contact until Sunday night. Maybe I'll be able to get some work done!
B-)
May 2005 Archives
Sometimes you find that life is getting on top of you with too many commitments piling on top of each other and not enough time to get to grips with any of them properly. And then out of the blue you get a message offering you a ticket to the cup final.
B-))
One trend linguists have noticed recently is the increased use of verbs as nouns in structures like 'a good read'. The most common one is 'a big ask' as used by sports commentators in a situation like when a team is two-nil down at half-time. (It's 'a big ask' to expect them to come back, as Michael Howard just found out ;-) Apparently, it started in fundraising circles.
I just heard two new examples. First, Alan Hansen on Match of the Day said that the dramatic day of relegation-deciding matches on Sunday had been 'a wonderful watch'. Then last night Paul Gascoigne was on a documentary about what happens to footballers after they retire (talking to Alan Hansen, coincidentally). Talking about how much he had missed playing when he first stopped, he said 'oh yes, it was a big miss'.
It's an interesting example of some of the processes of language change. I think it would be right to say that the language system itself hasn't changed, since we have been making nouns from verbs for ages (e.g. 'a good read') but language use has changed. It also shows grownups making generalisations, i.e. they're not just saying 'a big ask' but somehow 'deciding' that verbs can be used as nouns and doing it to verbs other than 'ask'. It also gives me a couple of new ambiguity examples to use in class.
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I realise that this publicises the movie, but I can't stop myself from sharing this bit of Simon Singh's latest newsletter. He's also known for not being Derren Brown's number one fan, btw.
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I don't think I have previously used this newsletter to criticise anybody else's work, but when it comes to the utter junk that is 'What the Bleep Do We Know!?' then I am prepared to make an exception.
I first came across this film when I was in America back in February and now it is about to open in cinemas in the UK and elsewhere. It is the third highest grossing documentary ever and it claims to be about quantum physics, but in fact it makes gross distortions that would make any self-respecting scientist squirm. For example, the film states that experiments imply that labelling a bottle of water with words like 'love' or 'hate' can change its molecular structure. Indeed, the film suggests that quantum physics can explain why this is the case. Apparently quantum physics can also be exploited to bring about world peace through meditation.
If you have a science background then please do not go and see this film as you will be violently ill afterwards. And if you do not have a science background then please do not go and see this film as you will be submitting yourself to two hours of (badly filmed) pseudoscientific propaganda. If you want to learn about quantum physics then I would advise you to pay a visit to the library or find a TV documentary on the subject - both options cost less and deliver more than this atrocious film.
As you can tell by now, I really do hate this film. Having spent the last fifteen years making documentaries and writing about science, I care hugely about the accurate and honest portrayal of science. I am working on an article that details exactly why I hate this film so much, and I will put it online soon and link to it in my next newsletter.
Scanned some proofs of an encyclopedia article while invigilating yesterday. I had come up with a fairly clumsy example of an utterance the reader would be unlikely to have seen or heard before as a way of demonstrating the creativity of human language. I then started looking at an article* we'll be discussing at a reading group on Monday, and came across this:
If we consider semantics the science that tells us what is said, Grice let the nose of the pragmatic camel intrude under the tent of semantics
Anyone come across that one before? Bravely, the authors carried on with the metaphor. Personally, I'm in favour of letting the whole camel in. Even if semantics does end up squashed into a corner of the tent next to the pile of sweaty socks.
B-)
*Korta, K. and J. Perry (forthcoming) Three demonstrations and a funeral. To appear in Mind and Language.
Went to Apoa's music concert after work today and this is me just getting back from it at 11.30pm. Apoa and Kiloh got a lift home and arrived around 9.30ish.
All I can say is that I really appreciate a head teacher who thinks he's leaving a governors' meeting at 10.30pm and is heading off home, only to be met by a biker who's been waiting to explain that his bike is locked in the pupils' bike shed and that the caretaker hasn't got a key, and who still smilingly sorts everything out and sympathises with me for having had to wait so long. I even more appreciate a deputy head who gets out of bed to answer his answer machine and explain where the key is.
The concert was great, with a mix of styles and abilities. Some of the kids were amazingly good. The crowd's favourite was a violin soloist who performed a very complicated piece with no music and then had to return for a second bow. I particularly enjoyed Jessie's trombone version of 'Summertime' which hypnotised the whole room. I thought we were about to be sucked into the end of the trombone. There were also two memorable versions of the Titanic theme, one haunting voice (three vocalists) and piano version in the first half and later a completely different take in which Apoa and some classmates had worked out their own arrangement for two pianists, a bass guitar, flute, clarinet and oboe.
Deadline day is Monday which means I'm being swamped with last-minute drafts, so I spent my waiting time reading about things like case theory and the dative alternation.
Apoa's tube pass ran out today so I had the added pleasure of a visit to the tube station to renew it on the way home, and a cycle down the A10 on the way - not recommended around 11pm, I'd say.
B-)
I was feeling cocky after getting both of the mystery guests on Question of Sport on Friday, so imagine my surprise when I settled down to watch the final of University Challenge only to find that I could hardly process any of the questions, let alone answer them. I know I used to know some answers back in the old days! I didn't even get all of the linguistics questions! For the record, I got 'synthetic', 'agglutinative', 'Noam Chomsky' and 'article', but 'Mandarin' foxed me.
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It's amazing what you see in shop windows in Regent Street, these days!
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Well, Barbara Roche lost. I think it's a shame as she was a good local MP and worked really hard for her constituents. Here are some thoughts from a local Labour Party worker:
Iraq (and Blair more generally) were massive issues over on the western side of the constituency and cost us loads of votes. But genuinely it was hardly mentioned over in Wood Green (except approvingly as evidence of Blair's courage and leadership, but then only by Asian and Middle Eastern voters). There the determinants were apathy and possibly immigration. I was harangued at length by a Jamaican about the injustice of all the perks that the latest wave of immigrants get, while his family get nothing - I found it very hard to argue the point, although I've never had a problem doing so with white working class punters; I heard from other activists that they had experienced this same 'pulling up the ladder' phenomenon, so plainly some unlikely people were thinking what Mr Howard was thinking).
A little insight on apathy/tunrout for you. In Woodside (north east of Wood Green), where I spent most of yesterday, we had 40% of the vote just based on our 'promises' (supportive canvass returns); you can add at least another 20% or so to this if you factor up proportionately for those 'unknown'/uncontacted who also voted. This was not untypical, so in the Labour parts of the constituency, I think we were getting about 60% of the vote. However, turnout was barely over 40%, whereas across the whole constituency it was about 60% (so vastly higher in Muswell Hill, Highgate and Crouch End). We lost by 2500 votes. Had turnout in our 5 best wards (out of the ten in the constituency) been at the average, we probably would have won, albeit by a handful of votes. Differential turnout - it's how elections are won and lost. Still, the fact that we lost huge numbers of voters in the leafy west (but not to the Greens, whose vote and share fell) probably means we wouldn't have won anyway, so enough of the post mortem. We've got four more years to get it right and a much stronger Crouch End Labour Party, so it's not all bad.
B-)
I held my nose.
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Well, I would have liked to have had the time to pass on lots of thoughts and news about the election, but it looks like this will have to be your lot. I've been wavering like never before on this one. I can see that the Tories would be a disaster so 'hold your nose and vote Labour' seems sensible. On the other hand, the stink really is pretty bad and 'the other guys are worse' isn't much of a sales gimmick. On the other other hand, they have done some good stuff and it would be a shame if that was dumped because of their bad side. On the other other other hand, if that happens, isn't it their fault rather than ours? I mean, who is it who's been going round alienating voters? And isn't it good to send the mesasage that you can't get away with some things? I have to say that there have been more cases than usual of election messages pushing me to do the opposite of what they want me to do. The letter from our local Tory candidate began by saying what a good hard-working MP Barbara Roche is! Which she is, so that's quite a strong argument too. The most persuasive, though, was the talk of Blunkett yesterday, and, even more forceful, the talk by Blunkett (i.e. he's persuading me not to vote Labour by saying I'm a self-indulgent middle class whinger if I don't).
I've had a few interesting political discussions recently, including Roger suggesting that this might be 1970 over again, Ade worrying that it might be 1992, and Robert saying that it's everybody's fault if it all goes wrong. As he put it:
When we had two million on the streets we should have rioted for peace and brought down the government...
Although he did add helpfully add that:
That would not have worked either.
Meanwhile, Apoa's still quite engaged. Apparently, the Tories are the funniest in her school mock election. She can't decide whether to vote for the funny ones since it doesn't really count or go for who she might vote for in real life. Both Apoa and Kiloh are asking if they can come to see the polling booth with me tomorrow. Hope tennagerdom doesn't apatheticise them,
B-)
Holly and Sara celebrated their 50th birthdays together at the weekend at Mount Ephraim in Kent. It was a great party with a ceilidh and a number of musical turns, as well as the hanging out and eating and drinking. The best bit, though, was watching the gangs of kids running around having adventures everywhere. Not sure about the brandishing of the dead eel, though.
It was the first time I'd been to Kent (rather than just going through it), apart from a works outing to Dreamland (which has been under threat for a while but looks like being open again for a bit more at least). Kent was much nicer than I'd expected and more in touch with its traditional agricultural past than a lot of bits of the countryside. We got a lot of info from our landlord who is Kentish, a volunteer guide for Faversham, and a pub expert. Naturally, I prepurchased a copy of his book on Kentish pub signs while I was there.
We went by bike, taking the train from Harringay to King's Cross, the Circle Line from King's Cross to Victoria and the train from there to Faversham We were particular popular on the Circle Line ;-) We did some cycling around while we there (this was my third weekend of country cycling in a row), including to Whitstable, which is very busy but much less full of middle class Londoners than I'd been led to believe (unless they were the ones on the private beach). On Monday, we had a really nice cycle along the Saxon Shore Way. Beautifully quiet but difficult terrain: thick spongy grass with occasional mudholes. We were very impressed with the girls' determination and seriously enjoyed the moment of finding the proper path at the end of it, followed by one of those pub lunches that feels better cos you've earned it.
Incredibly, though, I don't think anybody took any pictures B-(
