tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 02 13:52:31 1995
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Re: "be proud of"
According to [email protected]:
>
> NO, NO, and emphatically NO! My mistake was I used a definition of
> proud that nobody seems to use...
That's the thing about language. If you use a definition for a
word that nobody else seems to use, then the odds are you are
misusing the word. Words are there to lead the listener to the
thought which the speaker has. They are symbols that have
meaning only by the agreement of those using the language.
> I use the word "proud" to mean "to
> have pride." If someone is proud, they have pride in themselves.
I don't think this is going anywhere useful. Now, everybody
else has to drop the meaning we all have had in the simple pair
of words "be proud" and adopt your definition? I don't think so.
I am proud of my friends. When I think of them, my spirit is
lifted. I feel honored to enjoy the priviledge of association
with them. I would be pleased to announce to the world:
"Behold, these are my friends! I treasure them and believe that
everyone else should, too!" Clearly, they are the cause of my
feeling proud when the specific feeling of pride that I wish to
convey now occurs when I think about these friends. And so,
because of my friends, I am proud. jupmo' jIHem!
> If
> I am proud of my cleavage, (which I am) then I have pride for it. I
> do not have pride in myself because of the cleavage There are tons of
> objects one can have pride in. Ask any costumer what they have for
> their outfit, they have pride. I'll admit that they are proud of the
> work that went into it. But they do not have pride in themselves for
> having to work so hard.
Because of this product of their work, they are proud. As they
think about the costume, they remember the effort they put into
it and recognize that as a statement of value. They recognize
that very few can accomplish this end at all, and many who can
would not have made that value statement to dedicate so much
effort to this end product. Their spirit is lifted and they
feel drawn to share their costume, confident that any
meaningfully sane person would be impressed by it. They are
proud of the costume. They are proud because of the costume.
> I think our problem is that MO used an adjective to make a verb.(i.e.
> proud is not a verb by itself) That adjective has many definitions.
> Why can't we use all of them?
Well, basically, it's one of those "run it up the flagpoll"
kinds of things. If you use a word a certain way and everybody
goes, "Ahhhh", then you CAN BE PROUD (Mwaahahahahahahaha). If
instead, you use a word a certain way and everybody goes
"Huh?", then it's time to rethink the way you are using the
word.
[Meanwhile, charghwI' contemplates whether "cleavage" is really
an "it" or a "them", since "it" is impossible without "them",
and pride in "it" probably has a great deal to do with pride in
"them".]
> r'Hul
charghwI'
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