Short Post #2: Syntax VS Semantics

syn·tax  [sin-taks]  - noun
1. Linguisticsa. the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language.
b. the study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words.
c. the rules or patterns so studied: English syntax.
d. a presentation of these: a syntax of English.
e. an instance of these: the syntax of a sentence.
2. Logica. that branch of modern logic that studies the various kinds of signs that occur in a system and the possible arrangements of those signs, complete abstraction being made of the meaning of the signs.
b. the outcome of such a study when directed upon a specified language.

And

se·man·tics  [si-man-tiks]  - noun (used with a singular verb)
1. Linguisticsa. the study of meaning.
b. the study of linguistic development by classifying and examining changes in meaning and form.
2. Also called significs. the branch of semiotics dealing with the relations between signs and what they denote.
3. the meaning, or an interpretation of the meaning, of a word, sign, sentence, etc.: Let's not argue about semantics.

So, while syntax is the study of the mechanics of a sentence (or language as a whole), semantics is the study of the meaning behind the words, sentences, etc. Syntax is the cogs of the machine, while semantics is the coding in the program that runs the machine.

Or, at least that's how I understand it.

-JJ

Short Post #1: Oxymoron

Apparently, the word Oxymoron is, itself, an oxymoron:

Oxymoron is derived from the 5th century Latin "oxymoron", which is derived from the Ancient Greek: ὀξύς oxus "sharp, keen" + μωρός mōros "dull, stupid."

Also, the plural for oxymoron is oxymora.

-JJ

Fun Fear Facts

List of Phobias

Common fears that actually have diagnoses:

Achluophobia (Also, nyctophobia, scotophobia, or lygophobia) -- Fear of the Dark

Coulrophobia -- Fear of Clowns

Glossophobia -- Fear of Public Speaking

Pediophobia -- Fear of Dolls

Double Whammy! 

Fears of specific numbers:

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia -- 666
Tetraphobia -- 4
Triskaidekaphobia -- 13

Now for the fun ones:

Gerascophobia -- Fear of Aging

Ipovlopsychophobia -- Fear of Being Photographed

Agyrophobia -- Fear of Crossing Roads

Chaetophobia -- Fear of Hair

Chronophobia -- Fear of Time

Decidophobia -- Fear of Making Decisions

And, finally,
Phobophobia -- Fear of Fear

-JJ

Book Review: The Mist

My review of The Mist by Stephen King (via Goodreads).

I'll be short with this one because it's been a while since I've read it. Anyway, here goes.

I had not encountered Stephen King as novelist before this book. Before now, King has always just been the originator of some of the most frightening movies that have come out of Hollywood to date. I barely made it through my first viewing of IT, and I love rewatching the old TV miniseries that he has penned over time -- particularly The Langoliers. It's just so wonderfully terrible. And don't get me started on The Shining. One of the best, scariest movies that I've ever seen. Obviously, if you consider King the mind behind the fears that I and millions of other people have encountered over the years, his hype is unparalleled. 

So, having not read anything by King, and knowing that I loved The Shining, the film, I probably should have started off with that novel. Instead, I went with a used bookstore find, The Mist, which sat on the shelf just begging me to pick it up and take it home -- as all of my used books have done before it. 

Diving right into the review: It started off very... very... slowly. I waded through nearly fifty pages before getting into anything worth the effort. Too much backstory that ultimately didn't add to the experience. The setting, ironically, seemed undeveloped in my mind, left behind in favor of the psychological development of the narrator and a few "key" characters. However, this development came at a price: I almost let the book go. But it's short book -- novella, actually. So I persisted.

And I'm happy that I did. After trudging through the repetition of internal monologue about pasts and present situations that did little to affect my understanding of the situation, I found the crux of the matter. In a sleepy coastal town in Maine, a mysterious, thick, milky-white mist rolls into town, bringing paranoia, and creatures that no one has seen before. They appear without cause, reason, or any other apparent motive than to kill everyone.

I'll pause here. I was under the impression that King was the king (pun intended) of psychological terror. I didn't know anything about The Mist before diving into it, so I expected the true terror to be internal. Bumps and mysterious sounds that terrorize the psyche of the main characters. Instead, they're aliens, or monsters. Whatever they are, they're too real. I suppose I was expecting more Poe than "Aliens," but it left me unsatisfied.

The narration, however, is quick, easy, and engaging. As I mentioned before, I almost gave up. But it's a testament to King's ability to move the events along naturally that I did not. I kept at it, and was rewarded at times with real moments of terror -- even if it wasn't the kind I was expecting.

So, if you want something like The Shining, or Tell Tale Heart, then look elsewhere. But if you like natural -- but not necessarily literary -- narration that moves quickly and offers a few startling moments, then this will work for its length.

3/5

-JJ 

Rant On the Devolution of Communication

I just read an article that has me worried.

The article is this, and it discusses a picture taken by Paula Deen and deemed the "perfect" Pinterest picture.

Listen: I don't care about Paula Deen, Pinterest, or the "perfect" picture, if such a thing exists. What I care about comes from the second to last paragraph in the article. Read below:

Besides having a popular Pinterest page, why does all this matter? Gupta sees sharing images as the language of the future. "Consumers today communicate using pictures rather than words, and we see that not only on Pinterest, but Instagram and Tumblr."

As an English major -- and, as of this Fall, an English professor -- this statement worries me terribly. 

I have no problem with images used as communication. For some people, this is a necessary and unavoidable form of communication, particularly for those who don't have the ability to talk or understand language construction. Many would probably say that images were the very first form of communications in which humans partook. What's easier, writing out a complicated sentence full of grammatical rules and social nuances in order to communicate a thought, or posting a nifty drawing on a rock to show someone else that you're hungry, or that the lions are on the prowl? 

But what has me concerned is the fact that we're no longer bound by the need to draw pictures or swap photos to communicate. We have words now, beautiful, important words, all of which want to be used and nourished. 

I'm being a little dramatic here, I know. But it's a dramatic situation. What happens to a culture when their primary form of communication becomes degraded to pictures and hieroglyphs? Some might say that it's a more efficient form of communication, and would actually help that particular society. I realize this function of graphical communication, but I also see its limitations. Sure, you can communicate a thought more efficiently with a picture than you can with a string of words. Those words have to have meaning, and that meaning is driven by context. Words can mean a myriad of things, and it's partly the job of the reader as decoder to understand the writer's/speaker's intention. It's a complicated process. 

But it's an important process. Humans aren't just here to communicate processes and monosyllabic thoughts. We don't just say, "We're hungry." We say, "I haven't eaten since breakfast -- just a piece of toast and nothing more -- so I could really use a sandwich right now. A big, overflowing mound of meat and vegetables. Something savory and delicious. And I want it right now." That's a poor example of what the written/spoken language is capable of, but it helps to prove my point: there's poetry in language. There's art, intention, the confusing process of creation that people need to have in order to live a full, colorful life. Even if you don't think you're a writer, a poet, a creator of something larger than yourself, you're wrong. You are all of those things and more. And what better way to express that potential than with language? Sure, art is more than language and writing. It's panting, photography, sculpture, and so much more. But boil it down to the essential parts, and I think that the written word is the most important conveyor or emotion and intention that we have. 

And we don't need to let that devolve into swapping picture for picture. It's rudimentary, and it's sad.

I couldn't find a picture that was suitable for the post, 

so here's a cute little puffin.

That is all.

-JJ

History of High Heels

High heels. They look terribly uncomfortable, and according to my wife, they feel as unnatural as they look. Which, to her credit, is why she doesn't wear them. And I don't blame her. In fact, I would rather her leave them to the world of "fashion" and keep her feet healthy by donning practical, sensible footwear. 

That being said: Who thought that high heels were a good idea in the first place? These days, women tend to prize them as elements of a sort of "achievable" sensual appearance. But, this particularly cruel brand of fashion has a much different origin. In fact, their origins come not from women and fashion, but men and practicality. 

For the origins of high heels, we have to look backwards, to the 16th and 17th centuries. And we have to look away from the runway, and towards the battlefield, specifically that of horse-riding Persian warriors. 

As anyone who has seen high heels can attest, there seems to be something very impractical about the piece of wood or metal that juts out of the heel, lifting the wearer's foot a few inches from the ground. Today, it is impractical. But to Persian soldiers on horse-back, the heels were integral. In order to balance properly while holding a weapon and standing up in the stirrups, these skilled warriors needed something to keep their feet from slipping. Enter elongated heels, ones that even look similar to some worn by women today.

Fast forward to the western obsession with middle eastern culture and fashion that overtook the 17th century, and we see people in the ruling class complementing their appearance with heels reminiscent of those worn by the Persians. Gone was practicality, left behind in favor of looking worldly and important. 

Tracing the history further into the 17th century, women began to implement "male" fashion into their wardrobe, bringing along high heels. Their heels, however, became longer and thinner over time, while men's heels flattened and widened.

Then came the Enlightenment. Men shunned unnecessary ornamentation in favor of practicality, and women stuck with their long, thin heels, which had become synonymous with the "weaker" feminine stature. By 1740, men lost interest in them altogether, and within 50 years, so did the women.

Enter porn. In the 19th century, makers of pornographic images gave their models high heels to accentuate their legs, and the craze returned, now embodying the sexy, erotic revolution of the '60s and '70s. 

So, high heels went from battlefield necessity to porn-powered symbols of eroticism. From powerful men, to powerful women -- and possibly back again, according to the article: 

"If it becomes a signifier of actual power, then men will be as willing to wear it as women."

I'll stick with my TOMs, thanks.

-JJ 

"Blue Lake" Defies Climate Change

"Climate refuge" found in Blue Lake on North Stradbroke Island, in Queensland, Australia.

The lake has been virtually unaffected by climate change for over 7,500 years, according to researchers. By studying fossil pollen and fossil algae (known as diatoms), scientists have discovered that the environment of the lake has remained constant. Helping this consistency is the fact that the lake is fed by an aquifer and drains into a swamp, allowing the water to remain at a constant level of salinity. Assuming that the lake doesn't fill up too quickly or dry up rapidly anytime soon, the lake could remain one of the last places on earth that hasn't been affected in some way by global climate change.

Even in the face of humanity,

Wise words from Ian Malcolm.

-JJ