Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"

Mark Mandel thnidu at GMAIL.COM
Mon Feb 23 01:51:01 UTC 2009


Ach, I should've realized. I block all of TZ's posts, and only see
anything he's said if someone else quotes it. Yes, of course he's
ignorant of that distinction. Fuckhead. (Yes, I'm *using* it here. Of
him. He's earned the epithet.)

Mark Mandel



On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 5:06 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> At 3:36 PM -0500 2/22/09, Mark Mandel wrote:
>>Larry wrote, replying to Gerald Walton [full context below]:
>>
>>>  Or would these all be acceptable to cite because invoking them
>>>would involve not *using* but *mentioning* obscene words?
>>
>>I think so. He and Scot(?) both DID say "use", and all your examples
>>are mentions. The difference, of course, is enormous. In explaining it
>>to non-linguists in the context of taboo words, I've successfully used
>>the analogy of a forensic chemist who WORKS WITH poisons and toxins
>>all the time, but never USES them on himself or others.
>>
>>   forensic chemistry : work with :: linguistics : mention
>>
>>m a m
>
> Maybe so in general, Mark, but not in the context of this discussion.
> You'll recall that the argument for avoiding obscenity was initiated
> by Tom Z's, whose response to my posting was as follows:
>
> =================
> Worlds collide.
>
> I don't need your vulgar world.
>
> I'm here for kids.  Simple phonetic spelling.  Simplicity of
> standardized pronunciation in a way most communicative.  Simple
> teaching for enhanced learning of English.
>
> What's important to you has zero importance to me.  In fact it
> saddens me.  Slang dosen't bother me.  Gratuitous vulgarity does.
> =================
> But I can imagine a different response that distinguishes between use
> and mention, as noted above.

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