diving semantics

[agilis]

I have just come back from a diving holiday with a friend of mine, whose husband had asked her "to stay below 30 metres" on all her dives. When she informed me and the DM about it, we asked if he maybe wanted to get rid of her or something. She hadn't noticed the ambiguity, although she is the native speaker, not me.

This is what is known as 'gauge thinking'. On most depth gauges (the real ones not some silly computer) shallow depths are 'lower' on the analog scale, provided they read from left to right, as most gauges do. It may be left to right in a circular pattern, but it is left to right in any case, and the deepest readings are on the right. I suppose it can be argued that is just the other way round with political thinking, but that would be a fatuous attempt at creating analogies where none exist.

 

[billt4sf]

For each of these, ask your self was the second dive deeper or shallower?

1. My dive this morning was to 80', my second dive was less than that.

2. My dive this morning was to 80', my second dive was higher than that.

Both are clearly unclear.

Gee, I thought it was just me that noticed such things.

---------- Post added April 6th, 2013 at 01:32 PM ----------

This is an factual event that happened this evening. I stopped to get a coffee, and the cuty serving says hi how are you i say i am WELL and how are you. She says i am good. I say i am sure you are but how are you. I then explained that well refered to ones being and that good refered to ones ability. She bleshed and then said she understood the difference. Then another car pulled in and she says hello how are you adn he says i am well how are you. I go see , he used the word well. Then the pivatable point arrived. the guy not knowing the previous conversation before his arrival. Says ....Whats wrong with the word well is is proper english. The girl says i didnt now that (prpoper english) Im not from england. I looked at her and say your blond arent you. she yes how did you know. I stared deep into her blond locked draped blue eyes and said lucky guess i suppose.

You should have said: "See their both you're eyes."

---------- Post added April 6th, 2013 at 01:35 PM ----------

Also, feel free to add other sentences related to diving that are a little ambiguous.

Advanced Open Water certification.

 

[Quero]

I had an interesting conversation recently, where there was a lot of confusion regarding intended meaning of sentences. I probably thought about the discussion too much,

Both are clearly unclear.

Gee, I thought it was just me that noticed such things.

Much ado about absolutely nothing. Clearing up a little confusion like this is trivial in the extreme and is called "negotiation of meaning" in my professional field (applied linguistics). Conversational communication is a shared event, and any participant in the event can get involved in creating a shared understanding. In this case, all that's needed are six little words: "How deep was the second dive?"

Getting all wrapped up in pondering what the speaker meant is just like spending the day staring at your belly button. I guess it's still too cold for most people to go diving.

 

[agilis]

Much ado about absolutely nothing. Clearing up a little confusion like this is trivial in the extreme and is called "negotiation of meaning" in my professional field (applied linguistics). Conversational communication is a shared event, and any participant in the event can get involved in creating a shared understanding. In this case, all that's needed are six little words: "How deep was the second dive?"

Getting all wrapped up in pondering what the speaker meant is just like spending the day staring at your belly button. I guess it's still too cold for most people to go diving.

That there was Much Ado About (absolutely) Nothing was precisely the point. All of it great fun, I thought, especially when deliberate obfuscation took place during the denotational negotiations. I was immediately reminded of the police/guard in the play whose title you used in your opening sentence. Dogberry? Something like that, damning villains to eternal salvation and other malapropisms. One bit of wisdom was uttered during this splendid little play: (inexactly quoted from faulty memory) "I never thought I'd live long enough to be trapped by matrimony".

Was it Oscar Wilde who said 'Bigamy is one wife too many. So is matrimony." ?

Ok, enough intentional refusal to take seriously anything labled scuba semantics. I've delved into this shallow topic too deeply. Time to get higher before my dangling participle damages the coral.

 

[dfx]

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

 

[Quero]

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

That would be clearer with a couple of commas.

 

[agilis]

Bison (repeat 7 times, capitalizing the first, third and seventh.) Unless we are negotiating the meaning of a smallish city which has never attempted to hide its limitations by pretending to be in Vermont.

I have no idea what 'buffalo' is meant to suggest, but it was a glorious thing to see it as part of this learned discussion.

 

[Quero]

It's a fairly well-known example sentence among linguists. The capitalized words do refer to the city, but they are adjectival in function, i.e., Buffalo buffalo are bison from the Buffalo area. The verb "buffalo" (the fifth and sixth words in the sentence are verb forms) means to harass.

How's that for learned discourse?

 

[dbulmer]

Chomsky rules

 

[DaleC]

I'm confused.

I get how buffalo from Buffalo can buffalo Buffalo buffalo (5) but how do you add more buffalo forms?

I also really want to edit KWS's entire post regarding prpoper english but am resisting...