Refutation of Chomsky?*

[David A. Daniel]

What a coincidence. About two hours ago I watched a Myth Busters in which
they busted the myth that chili peppers would act as a shark repellant.
Didn't seem to bother the sharks at all. So my tweak to the peppers theory
would be: Man is the only animal that both feels the burning sensation,
which seems to be a mammalian thing, and likes it. BTW, if anyone is
interested, the burn you feel from capsaicin is an illusion, it and your
brain get together to play a trick on you.
DAD


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Joel S. Berson
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:15 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Refutation of Chomsky?*


It is not language that distinguishes humans from all other animals.

"Philosophers have often looked for the defining
feature of humans - language, rationality,
culture and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is
the only animal that likes Tabasco
sauce."[1].  (I would add primatologists and linguists.)

"There's not a single animal that likes hot peppers."[2][3]

[1]   Paul Bloom, a Yale psychologist
[2]   Paul Rozin, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist.
[3]   Animals of certain classes.  Birds have no
problem with capsican.  [Gorman,.]

In "A Perk of Our Evolution: Pleasure in Pain of
Chilies," by James Gorman, "Science Times," The
New York Times, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2010, Page D1.
http://tinyurl.com/28zupcv

Perhaps we can call this the "Paul Hypothesis."

* If this is not one of Chomsky's theses, but
that of other linguists, I apologize to him and to the members of this list.

Joel

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