Quotes About Language

Many intelligent and well-informed people were keenly interested in the future of the economy and did not believe a catastrophe was imminent; I infer from this fact that the crisis was not knowable. What is perverse about the use of know in this context is not that some individuals get credit for prescience that they do not deserve. It is that the language implies that the world is more knowable than it is. It helps perpetuate a pernicious illusion.

the word happiness does not have a simple meaning and should not be used as if it does. Sometimes scientific progress leaves us more puzzled than we were before.

We already knew that people are good intuitive grammarians: at age four a child effortlessly conforms to the rules of grammar as she speaks, although she has no idea that such rules exist.

Happiness does not have a simple meaning and should not be used as if it does.

If you have recently seen or heard the word EAT, you are temporarily more likely to complete the word fragment SO_P as SOUP than as SOAP. The opposite would happen, of course, if you had just seen WASH. We call this a priming effect and say that the idea of EAT primes the idea of SOUP, and that WASH primes SOAP.

To be read in context!!!) People who are "cognitively busy" are also more likely to make selfish choices, use sexist language, and make superficial judgments in social situations. Memorizing and repeating digits loosens the hold of System 2 on behavior, but if course cognitive load is not the only cause of weakened self-control.

La linguistica gli sembrava la scienza adatta per le persone che hanno la pedanteria necessaria per la matematica, ma non l'intelligenza. Per le persone che si inventano una propria logica, secondo il bisogno.

You business', sagte er dann. 'Kill why?' Sie lächelte, um zu zeigen, dass sie nicht verstand. 'Everything', sagte der Mann. 'Foam. Lorry?' Sie hob die Schultern. 'Hobble', sagte der Mann. 'Hobble grease. Why?' Sie lächelte verkrampft. 'Why?' Der Mann klopfte an die Scheibe. 'Grease, the hobble why!

Punctuation, is? fun!

That language is demonstrably stereotypical -- in either the Bible or the modern Mediterranean cultures -- is not the same thing as saying that a language is demonstrably fraudulent -- or that it is language that is not reacting to real trauma. (p. 103)

The idea was that consumption was a symbolic system we use but we don't understand, in the same way that we speak language clearly without being able to give a lesson in grammar.

Levei um tempo para compreender que a palavra "tribo" é mais uma forma colonialista de se referir a algumas culturas que eram consideradas inferiores. É um termo que reduziu a cultura de um povo a apenas uma manifestação cultural.

Os [povos] que aqui estavam eram falantes do tupi, língua que depois foi aprendida pelos colonizadores e missionários e se tornou oficial até o século XVIII, quando foi proibida pelo Marquês de Pombal.

The only ill-chosen word in that sentence was "quasi.

Everyone was amazed and puzzled. They each heard their own language! "What does this mean?" some asked. Others sneered, "They're drunk on new wine." Then Peter stood up. "People from Judea and all who live in Jerusalem. We're not drunk. It's only nine in the morning.

Le monde entier est dans ce que nous disons - et tout entier éclairé par ce que nous taisons. (p. 34)

la grammaire est le premier outil de la pensée organisée et (...) la fameuse analyse logique (...) ajuste les mouvements de notre réflexion, laquelle se trouve aiguisée par le bon usage des fameuses propositions subordonnées.

Il mal di grammatica si cura con la grammatica, gli errori di ortografia con l'esercizio dell'ortografia, la paura di leggere con la lettura, quella di non capire con l'immersione nel testo, e l'abitudine a non riflettere con il pacato sostegno di una ragione strettamente limitata all'oggetto che ci riguarda, qui e ora, in questa classe, durante quest'ora di lezione, fintanto che ci siamo.

Rather than allowing a book's intelligence to speak through our mouths, we replace it with our own intelligence as we talk about it. Rather than acting as emissary for the book, we become guardians of the temple, boasting of its wonders in the very words that slam shut it's doors: Reading matters! Reading matters!

La lettura, atto di comunicazione? Ecco un'altra simpatica frottola da commentatori! Quel che noi leggiamo, lo taciamo.

Parce que le mot à leurs yeux ne devient vraiment gros que lorsqu'on l'écrit, on s'en "branle" à l'oral, on s'en "bat les couilles à longueur de journée, on "nique ta mère" à tire larigot. Mais trouver le mot "couille" ou le verbe "branler" et "niquer" noir sur blanc, dans un livre, quand leur place est sur les murs des toilettes, alors ça...

In giro per la città si trasforma nell'instancabile doppio della grande epistola pubblicitaria... FORD, BANCA POPOLARE, COCA-COLA, le parole gli cadono dal cielo, le loro sillabe colorate gli esplodono in bocca. Non una sola marca di detersivo resiste alla sua passione per la decifrazione. «'La-va-più-bian-co', cosa vuol dire 'lavapiùbianco?» Poiché è giunta l'ora delle domande cruciali.

cette pensée profonde de Clara: "Il y a toutes les histoires du monde dans une langue qu'on ne connaît pas.

Quand Suzanne imitait l'accent français, mon accent, elle m'offrait la physiologie de notre langue. Son visage rétrécissait, ses sourcils se haussaient, elle redressait la tête, baissait à demi les paupières, avançait une bouche hautaine et boudeuse : Vous autres, maudits Français, toujours à parler avec votre bouche en cul-de-poule, comme si vous chiiez des Å"ufs en or sur nos pauvres têtes!