[Cuis] The Isness (was Re: A few proposed is: additions)

[Juan Vuletich]

Hi Casey,

Casey Ransberger wrote:
> E-Prime is a maddeningly difficult variant of the English language which rejects all forms of the verbs meaning "to be."
>   

Wow. Had to look at the Wikipedia article to get it.

> This includes the word "is."
>
> In E-Prime, the statement "To be or not to be, that is the question." is completely impossible. You end up with something like "To or not to, I perceive a question."
>   

It is great! I love it! It really seems like a great exercise in clear 
thought.

> It's mostly useful in terms of enhancing one's point of view; the exercise of exorcizing is-ness forces one to look for some rather challenging ways of formulating arguments. It makes you think about things that we tend normally to take for granted. 
>
> Another thing that's fun to do (and not at all related to E-Prime) is to spend a week without using words that mean "I." I, me, mine.
>
> Sorry to be off topic!
>
> Casey

Hehehe. There's a game here (Argentina), I don't know if popular in 
other places, that kids play, for example, in long car trips. It is to 
have a conversation, but one of the kids is forbidden from using the 
words 'yes', 'no', 'black' and 'white'. The point is to see for how long 
you can go without using them inadvertently.

E-Prime, and your 'avoid I' game sound like more interesting versions of 
this game, because as you play, your thoughts get clearer (with 
E-Prime); or you get less egocentric (with 'avoid I').

Thanks for sharing this, Casey!

Cheers,
Juan Vuletich