Ben Bradley wrote: ...> I read the other responses, saw the one with mechanicism/mechanism, > let the thread percolate* a few minutes, and the word mechanomorphism > came to mind.I add lamely, me too, but I'm not entirely happy with it. It may apply to "I spent the afternoon coasting with my mind in neutral" and "He went ballistic", but it falls too far short of "His SNR is terrible" and "He has poles in the right half plane." "Mechanism" is too restrictive.> Suspecting I'm not the first to think of it, I Googled > for it and found these pages - a very short definition here:You're a better man than I. I probably wouldn't have thought to do that. Part of the problem begins with "anthropomorphic", whose roots give it the meaning "having the form of a (hu)man. We've gotten over that and broadened it to its present meaning, but that (to me) doesn't work with a neologism. "Having the form of a machine" doesn't cut it. <aside> When it became obvious that tidal waves had nothing to do with tides, the Western scientific community adopted the Japanese term "tsunami" as an alternative. It turns out that "tsunami" means "harbor wave" in Japanese, hardly an improved description. Ignorance really is bliss. </aside> ... I know the roots of "anthropomorphic", but "prosopopoeia" is Greek to me. Any word based on that probably wouldn't stick in my craw. <aside> Rio is a bustling port the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth. A ferry ran from there to the Peloponnese across the gulf. The southern terminal was on a narrow strip of land with a cliff behind. There were a few stores for travelers -- gas, lunch, etc. -- and a few houses for those who worked there. The town had no function aside from being a ferry landing. It is called "Antirio" -- "opposite Rio". (There's a bridge now: http://gogreece.about.com/od/peloponnese1/a/rioantiriobridg.htm.) </aside> How about "antiprosopopoeia" doing interim service? The adjective would properly be "antiprosopopetic". I rather like the ring of that. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
OT: Anthropomorphism
Started by ●June 23, 2005
Reply by ●June 26, 20052005-06-26
Reply by ●June 26, 20052005-06-26
"robert bristow-johnson" <rbj@audioimagination.com> wrote in message news:BEE0906A.8806%rbj@audioimagination.com...> in article 11blr3c9c9v4d7@corp.supernews.com, Jim Thomas at > jthomas@bittware.com wrote on 06/23/2005 13:07: > >> Jim Thomas wrote: >>> porterboy76@yahoo.com wrote: >>> >>>> I was just wondering if there is an opposite word to anthropomorhism, >>>> whereby inanimate characteristics are contributed to humans, eg. >> >> I just remembered another one I've heard: "That guy has a couple of >> poles outside the unit circle." > > that one is worthy of remembering. i had a couple of my poles move > outside > the unit circle on Dec 12, 2000. good thing i don't own any guns. >The most fitting I have heard to date was "he's an information black hole" Best of Luck - Mike
Reply by ●June 27, 20052005-06-27
Jerry Avins wrote:> Ben Bradley wrote: > > ... > >> I read the other responses, saw the one with mechanicism/mechanism, >> let the thread percolate* a few minutes, and the word mechanomorphism >> came to mind. > > > I add lamely, me too, but I'm not entirely happy with it. It may apply > to "I spent the afternoon coasting with my mind in neutral" and "He went > ballistic", but it falls too far short of "His SNR is terrible" and "He > has poles in the right half plane." "Mechanism" is too restrictive. > >> Suspecting I'm not the first to think of it, I Googled >> for it and found these pages - a very short definition here: > > > You're a better man than I. I probably wouldn't have thought to do that. > > Part of the problem begins with "anthropomorphic", whose roots give it > the meaning "having the form of a (hu)man. We've gotten over that and > broadened it to its present meaning, but that (to me) doesn't work with > a neologism. "Having the form of a machine" doesn't cut it. > > <aside> > When it became obvious that tidal waves had nothing to do with tides, > the Western scientific community adopted the Japanese term "tsunami" as > an alternative. It turns out that "tsunami" means "harbor wave" in > Japanese, hardly an improved description. Ignorance really is bliss. > </aside> > > ... > > I know the roots of "anthropomorphic", but "prosopopoeia" is Greek to > me. Any word based on that probably wouldn't stick in my craw. > > <aside> > Rio is a bustling port the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth. A ferry > ran from there to the Peloponnese across the gulf. The southern terminal > was on a narrow strip of land with a cliff behind. There were a few > stores for travelers -- gas, lunch, etc. -- and a few houses for those > who worked there. The town had no function aside from being a ferry > landing. It is called "Antirio" -- "opposite Rio". (There's a bridge > now: http://gogreece.about.com/od/peloponnese1/a/rioantiriobridg.htm.) > </aside> > > How about "antiprosopopoeia" doing interim service? The adjective would > properly be "antiprosopopetic". I rather like the ring of that. > > JerryLast week we went to eat a cake with our research group. One of us started with: 'Lets decimate the cake' meaning lets cut the cake in pieces laki
Reply by ●June 27, 20052005-06-27
laki wrote:> Last week we went to eat a cake with our research group. > One of us started with: 'Lets decimate the cake' meaning lets cut the > cake in piecesOr "let's cut the cake into ten pieces (or multiples thereof)" <vbg> -- Bruce Fletcher Stronsay, Orkney <www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont>
Reply by ●June 27, 20052005-06-27
Reply by ●June 27, 20052005-06-27
mike turner wrote:> He/she/it has a few bent pins.And his belt doesn't go through all the loops. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●June 28, 20052005-06-28
On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 22:22:14 +0000 (UTC), Bruce Fletcher <r1card1an@bt1nternet.c0m> wrote:>laki wrote: > >> Last week we went to eat a cake with our research group. >> One of us started with: 'Lets decimate the cake' meaning lets cut the >> cake in pieces > >Or "let's cut the cake into ten pieces (or multiples thereof)" <vbg>I was about to ask if there were ten attendees. Of course, if there were only eight, he could have said "Let's octimate the cake.">-- >Bruce Fletcher >Stronsay, Orkney ><www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont>----- http://www.mindspring.com/~benbradley
Reply by ●June 28, 20052005-06-28
Bruce-->> Last week we went to eat a cake with our research group. >> One of us started with: 'Lets decimate the cake' meaning lets cut the >> cake in pieces > >Or "let's cut the cake into ten pieces (or multiples thereof)" <vbg>That was very clever! Thanks for bringing a smile onto my face on a tuesday morning! --Bhooshan This message was sent using the Comp.DSP web interface on www.DSPRelated.com
Reply by ●June 28, 20052005-06-28
bhooshaniyer wrote:> Bruce-- > >>>Last week we went to eat a cake with our research group. >>>One of us started with: 'Lets decimate the cake' meaning lets cut the >>>cake in pieces >> >>Or "let's cut the cake into ten pieces (or multiples thereof)" <vbg> > > > That was very clever! Thanks for bringing a smile onto my face on a > tuesday morning!<blushing> -- Bruce Fletcher Stronsay, Orkney <www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont>
Reply by ●June 29, 20052005-06-29
Bruce Fletcher wrote:> > Or "let's cut the cake into ten pieces (or multiples thereof)" <vbg>Or even, "Let's eat one tenth of the cake to teach the remainder a lesson". Cheers mark-r -- "Let's meet the panel. You couldn't ask for four finer comedians - so that answers your next question..." -- Humphrey Lyttleton
