Skip to main content

The Case of the Repeated Noun

When the same noun is used on both sides of the verb it has a remarkable effect. It confers a meaning that may entrance, or even inspire the reader. Linking the same stem in this manner confers a deeper meaning and affect an emotional response.  If implies a deeper meaning, which actually upon reflection is incumbent on the reader to create.  It is really just a linguistic trick used by all the our masters* of language.  But they must be applied with the author mindful of just the right application.

Here is a famous quote: "Luck is believing you're lucky." --- Tennessee Williams
Here is another:
Dryden to Lawrence (of Arabia) in the film: "It is recognized you have a funny sense of fun." 

The remaining of these were generated from noun and verb lists.  Though all were constructed in just two hours, it should take you just two minutes to review.  All bunk.
  • Hope is in the imagination of the hopeful.
  • Freedom is life's realization to be free.
  • Memory is in itself a memory.
  • Success breeds success.
  • Depression suffers its own depression.
  • Depression is the mother's milk of the depressed.
  • The optimist survives sometimes only on optimism.
  • Letters from home are the letters of a past life.
  • A tendency in this direction often implies a tendency in that.
  • Thinking thoughts of hope amount to thinking thoughts of joy.
  • We always need more information about the information.
  • A moment is merely a moment, momentarily considered only at the moment.
  • War is a war upon humanity.
  • The proof resides mostly believing in the proof.
  • Proving is believing in the proof.
  • A war is but an episode in the eternal human war.
  • A war is but a single battle in the eternal human war.
  • Timing your actions is also timing your results.
  • Shelter the enslaved is to enslave the sheltered.
  • To throw a switch may be to switch the game.
  • Shaving your odds too close may shave reality from your options.
Your assignment.  Make up a couple of these.  Note how amazing the use of a repeated noun has upon the effect to amaze.
*BTW, I am not one of these masters but just noticed one of the masters' tricks.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I.                                       I.                 Introduction.                Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II.     ...

Where is AI (Artificial Intelligence) Going?

  How to view Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Imagine you go to the store to buy a TV, but all they have are 1950s models, black and white, circular screens, picture rolls, and picture imperfect, no remote. You’d say no thanks. Back in the day, they sold wildly. The TV was a must-have for everyone with $250 to spend* (about $3000 today). Compared to where AI is today, this is more or less where TVs were 70 years ago. In only a few decades AI will be advanced beyond comprehension, just like TVs today are from the 50s viewpoint. Just like we could not imagine where the video concept was going back then, we cannot really imagine where AI is going. Buckle up. But it will be spectacular.    *Back then minimum wage was $0.75/hr. Thus, a TV cost more than eight weeks' wages. ------------------------- 

Fake News

If you've been following the news the last couple of days, you will note the flurry of copy devoted to fake news.  Both sides are blaming whatever has befallen them the consequence of fake news.  Let's look at this phenomenon a bit.    When I was a student years ago, a friend climbed some mountain in Peru.   A article was written in the local newspaper about the event.   In only three column inches, the newspaper made about six errors.   An easy article to write you say?   Just interview and reproduce.   Yet so many errors?   The question is this: was this fake news or bad reporting?   The idea here is that fake news comes in various flavors. Bad reporting – errors made by the author or editor Opinion presented as news     Deliberate creation of falsehoods to favor a point of view       The reporting of selected truths to favor a particular point of view Now we have the big social media ...