h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I see,
I follow you,
I understand,
I appreciate what you are saying.

Good try! But it's only a general rule. The examples you came up with, 'see', 'follow' and 'understand' all come from Old English (Anglo-Saxon) while 'appreciate' is from Latin.

Is there always an exception to the rule?

lurking on his pipe
"Ichtus is an early (christian) derivation of a word from initial letters.

And indeed there is always an exceptional example."

of course, that's one of the basic rules of existence!

OnTopic.

Why is that possible? Why is it possible to construct a sequence of correct and contextually logical statements in English which equate to a completely illogical conclusion? Are there languags where this isn't possible?

Godel made a theory proving any sufficient systematic 'language' (he was merely using mathematics) can deny itself.
Can be used to create something completely illogical and or inconsistent with itself.

Why is that possible? Why is it possible to construct a sequence of correct and contextually logical statements in English which equate to a completely illogical conclusion? Are there languags where this isn't possible?

YESsoIhavebeentoldmanytimesWell I DO TRY ,so very very hard

Teassill, you say that there is always an exception to every rule. This is not true. There are some rules which have no exceptions. Of course, such rules are the exception.

The expression "the exception proves the rule" means a slightly different thing to what most people think. "Prove" in this case means to test. So the exception tests the rule.

Traveller in Time:

1. I'm not convinced by Ichthys. There is evidence that the acrostic was invented long after the symbol.

2. Gödel didn't show that a systematic set of rules cause an illogical exception. He showed that in any systematic set of rules, there will be some statements which are true but can't be proved within the system. That's a different thing altogether.

Ictoan, there is a language called lojban which is intended to be completely logical. Only logical statements can be expressed in it. But I don't think it is very successful.

ltp, glad I could be the cause of so much mirth.

Gnomon, interesting, thanks, I shall have to look it up!

Traveller in Time on his head
"I do not even think I am always right, just trying to be of some assistance. (I left searching for anything that is always right)"

Gnomon, I didn't say there always was an exception, I wondered if there was.

I suspect that there are some well defined rules which have no exception. However, until we can be sure that we know absolutely everything I think I'll plump for reserving my judgement!

"Why is it possible to construct a sequence of correct and contextually logical statements in English which equate to a completely illogical conclusion?"

Sense is rare, nonsense is legion.

>> I think I'll plump for reserving my judgement. <<

Every home should have at least one suspended judgement hanging over the door and a few more above the hearth. I keep several in my refrigerator.

For example: the old rule that says what goes up must come down.
Today it might be better said that anyone who has ever left this planet has come back again and everything they took with them will eventually fall back again too.

But then there is the exception of the moon which was whacked off our cooling crust so many millions of years ago. It remains, as most severe judgements should be, suspended. It is there to remind us that 'up' and 'down' and words like 'must' have to be seen in a more five dimensional perspective.

The only constant in our reality is change. Everything else changes and therefore any rules we make will always be subject to exceptions.
Except, change itself, which is the only constant, without exception.
But that's not a rule that's just an observation of fact.

peace
~jwf~

Surely logic, or lack of it, relates only to the content of what is being said, regardless of the language it is being said in.

Or have I misunderstood Ictoan's point.

.....

And if a rule has no exceptions, surely it just becomes a fact.

"The sun rises in the East" being the first example that springs to mind.

*************

And here's one for (please note: nothing personal!)

Why do we "plump" for things?

Well until someone actually looks it up and lets us know I'm going with 'plumb' as in 'plum-bob', the little weighty thing on the end of string that builders us to find 'down'.

And don't call me Shirley.

~jwf~

>> ..that builders us to find 'down'. <<

Should read: that builders USE to find down, dammit.
Y'know, that brass weight thingy that always points toward the center of the earth. It doesn't really look like a plum on a string. More like the slingshot David used to bring down Goliath.


~jwf~

I thought was from the latin (translated to greek) for something or other like that "lead" being amonst heaveiest metal at bottem of list.

Plumbum is Latin for lead, as in plumbline and plumb the depths; but Oxford thinks that plump comes from Middle Dutch plompen (to fall into water) of imitative origin.

There is debate in my office as to the meaning of the word 'Albion'. I believe it to be an ancient term for England (or possibly Great Britain in general) of probably Roman origin.

My colleague believes it to be a Celtic word referring to Scotland.

Are either of us, or both of us, or neither of us right?

I think possibley you are both correct in that I think that Albion derives from a celtic word (not necessarily from the Celts actually living in Great Britain) for GB or bits thereof and the Romans picked it up from then. Hence when the Celts legged it to the hills at the first sign of an italian carrying a big knife, the word moved with them. Probably means homeland or something.

This is a work of complete fiction, and truth is stanger than fiction so i can but wait for the correct answer!