Further Antedating of "Black Hole"

[Sam Clements]

Who, "with any view to any realistic  endeavor of the human mind, would
really give a flying fuck if" he could improve mankind's lot by telling
people how to play beter poker?  Seriously.
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:El5NxKL9nvkJ:www.pokerwiz.com/email.htm+pokerwiz.com+david+daniel&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

Different games for different people.

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 8:47 PM
Subject: Re: Further Antedating of "Black Hole"


> Fred Shapiro says: >Here's a more notable antedating, since it casts into
> serious question >whether Wheeler really was the coiner:
>
> OH MY GOD. WHETHER OR NOT WHEELER REALLY WAS THE COINER OF BLACK HOLE HAS
> BEEN CAST INTO SERIOUS QUESTION!!!
>
> You have got to be kidding.
>
> OK. Here is where, had I any pride, and somewhat less curiosity, I would
> leave this useless, irrelevant list. And, yes, in terms of any worthwhile
> human endeavor, this list, along with its opinions and its findings and
> its
> oh so high opinion of itself, is totally irrelevant.
>
> We have a man, Johnny Wheeler, who, in his lifetime and with his brain,
> did
> things that really mattered, that, in fact, killed hundreds of thousands
> of
> people, won global wars, changed the course of history, changed the entire
> thought process of weapons development, changed the way scientists and
> laymen alike relate to the world and the universe, may have changed basic
> human interaction forever. And now our list is to - gasp! - be thrown into
> paroxysm because... THERE MAY BE SERIOUS QUESTION AS TO WHETHER WHEELER
> REALLY WAS THE COINER OF BLACK HOLE! Who, with any view to any realistic
> endeavor of the human mind, would really give a flying fuck if Wheeler is
> the coiner or not?
>
> "Well, but that is what we do here! We really do give a rat's ass if
> Wheeler
> coined 'black hole' or not!"
>
> Uh huh, well that is fine, that is fun, that is interesting, that is how
> we
> amuse ourselves. But let us not confuse this with something that really
> matters. Let us not be strident in our proclamations that Wheeler may not
> have coined a term when everything else he did makes it totally irrelevant
> whether he coined the term or not.
>
> Let us not think, for example, that whether people in Michigan say pop or
> soda is important. It is not important; it is merely interesting. Let us
> not
> think, for example, that whether people in Texas use glottal kitten is
> important. It is not important; it is merely interesting.
>
> And, jeeeeeez! Can't you guys lighten up on Tom Zurinskas? OK, he goes a
> bit
> overboard with his truespel thing. So what? If he went and got a PhD in
> some
> linguistic field, and still promoted his truespel, you would then take him
> more seriously? If your answer is negative then be careful, as it has been
> proposed on this list that Tom's problem is a lack of paper. Everyone on
> this list goes overboard on their own thing, their own view of the
> linguistic universe.
>
> (Um... I just had a thought that some folks may equate the issues of this
> list with issues of human communication and come in with questions like,
> "how can you think that human communication is not important?" Well, in a
> year or more on this list I have seen nothing of such import. All I have
> seen is just fun and interesting, that's all. How about y'all spend more
> ivory tower time trying to figure how your areas of endeavor could better
> the human condition and less time on how many angels can dance on the head
> of a linguistic pin?)
> DAD
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org