Caption on a nature site: "Ruby-_Throat_ Hummingbird"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Jul 8 21:05:42 UTC 2012


On Jul 8, 2012, at 3:59 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 7/8/2012 02:32 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>> The N1 composites are briefer, but can require more interpretive
>> work -- *but* these composites are interpreted in context, not in
>> vacuo, and context, shared knowledge, etc. can make interpretation a
>> snap. (interpretation is easier for N1s that are themselves
>> composites, since the range of interpretation is narrowed by the
>> constraints of the real world.)
>
> I'm not sure that context, shared knowledge, etc., will help me with
> "one-arm man", which of the various examples in this thread I have
> the hardest time with.  Did he have just one gun?
>
What was odd about the stats I quoted for that one is that the versions with and without "-ed" were closer there, even though in my recollection both Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford in the movie version) and everyone else referred to him (whether or not they accepted his existence, which [spoiler alert…

























] is eventually confirmed, as a/the one-armED man.  (Or could that just be the way I processed it?  Hmmmm.)

LH

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