The word of the day1 for March 13, 2007 is “classify” — transitive verb 1 : to arrange in classes <classifying books according to subject matter>. 2 : to assign (as a document) to a category.
I dreamed last night that my sister had been chosen to participate in a televised game show. If anyone would be a good contestant on a game show, it would be my sister. As a research librarian, she gets to look up all sorts of things that don’t impinge directly on her day-to-day. I, on the other hand, have definite categories to my interests. Sometimes I surprise myself when watching Jeopardy, but if the category is about network TV shows after about 1975, for instance, I rarely even understand the clue.
I woke up before my sister went on the game show. She was grumbling about the odds and trying to explain some mathematical equation that would illustrate her chances of actually winning. Don’t worry, DJ, as long as they don’t put Ken Jennings on against you, you’ll do all right.
The quote2 for today is from Roland Barthes (1915–1980), French semiologist. inaugural lecture, Jan. 7, 1977, Collège de France; repr. In Barthes: Selected Writings (1982). Lecon (1978):
Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we forget that all speech is a classification, and that all classifications are oppressive.
;^) Jan
1 The definition is from either Merriam-Webster Online, 10th Edition or The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition and is used by permission.
2 The quote is from either Bartleby: Great Books on Line or The Quotation Pages and is used by permission.
P.S.: Comments and word requests are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment