Take It Back

Posted on 5 December, 2012 by odo

Let’s take back the meaning of words. Our ability to communicate clearly is hindered when words are misused.

Awesome. Awe is not a good feeling. Look it up. Something that is awesome is closer to terrifying than wonderful.

Absolutely. Means unqualified, unconditional, unrestricted, without limitation. It does not mean yes, affirmative, correct, certain. The over use of superlatives dilutes their power.

Best. There can be only one “the best.” In most cases that’s not possible. The best cheese, the best cognac, the best. . . Who’s to say? Best in what way? Best for what use? I know what I like the best. When it requires qualification as in, best to me, or best for this purpose, best doesn’t apply.

Passion. It’s a word in transition and losing its original meaning. Most understand it as having strong emotions. It really means suffering. To use it to describe something you have such overwhelmingly strong feelings for that you actually and willingly suffer for it would be proper usage. I don’t know anyone who is so extremely dedicated to anything that they really and truly suffer as a result.

Terrific is a perfect example of a word that has transitioned. It’s original meaning is still in the dictionary, but relegated to the bottom of the list of meanings. Think about it, it’s awesome.

And one that’s not a word, it’s a punctuation : double quotes. When not being used to indicate a direct quote that someone said, they are often called scare-quotes. In spoken language they’re called air-quotes and accompanied with some silly finger wiggling. They usually indicate irony, as in, military “intelligence.” Quotes are also properly used for the titles of pieces of music, magazine articles, movies, and nicknames. But today they are being misused to indicate emphasis. And their overuse is so rampant sometimes it’s a mystery as to what they mean. Quotes are “NOT” for emphasis! (And that goes for exclamation points too!!) If in doubt, don’t “use” quotes.

Language is always evolving. There’s no stopping it. Questionable words are in transition. Still, it’s good to be reminded of their origins, and it’s sometimes amusing.

More taking back in a YouTube video that runs nearly an hour, but the first ten minutes packs in the relevant information : [Now Praise Intelligent Design]

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Simple Quotes

Posted on 21 November, 2012 by odo

After coming across some quotes on simplicity, I realized they would make a good follow up to the trilogy “How Radical Is That?,” “Intelligent Design,” and “Splash.” But the associations go deeper. They relate to my philosophy of art, my approach to the Parallel Audio Project, and to my aim in design. I was tempted to add further commentary, then on second thought, I’ll let the connections find their own path.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ― Confucius

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” ― E.F. Schumacher

“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” ― Leo Tolstoy

“When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation of all incumbrance, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run.” ― Henry David Thoreau

“Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” ― John Maeda

“People who pride themselves on their complexity and deride others for being simplistic should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.” ― Thomas Sowell

“These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraphs and kerosene and coal stoves — they’re good to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on them.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder

“When a thing is labeled complex, that’s just a roundabout way of saying you’re not observant enough to understand it.” ― A. Lee Martinez

“Life is indeed terribly complicated—to a man who has lost his principles.” ― G.K. Chesterton

These quotes evoke many connections with the current state of politics, our economic policies and our attitudes towards the role government. If only these ideas were being discussed by our politicians and the news media, then maybe we’d break the deadlock. Then maybe we’d move on to make progress.

The attributions to these quotes may be questionable, or fabricated. I vetted only one; it got eliminated. Something about the language didn’t ring true. I’m not the only one who questioned it. Read this account of finding the source of [Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication].

And in my search I came across an interesting site dedicated to the [Laws of Simplicity].

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