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Class Notes: 10/19/10
Notes 10/19/10
Anne: course-keeping, went over written course evaluations, read comments about our discussions might turn into arguments, class evaluations, what we are doing from here on out. Go over material that we will be covering, reading, watching. Decide amongst ourselves which books we will be reading because our first list was too extensive, too much material. Paper due soon!!! Can write about any material/conversation covered thus far.
On to etymologies…
Aya Seaver: wants to read the dictionary. On a spectrum, very easy to back it into the corner of nonfiction, look at the politics because it is more complicated
Anne: So narrative may be abandoned in an effort to give definitions
Aya Seaver: why write a thematic ark of an encyclopedia because no one reads it
FatCatRex: Sam Edwards dictionary has preface, seems to have a narrative quality. Feels like structure of definitions more colloquial and approachable, first one to write definitions to things, had nothing to base it upon, there were no expectations
Anne: the whole book is a narrative of etymology as it develops and becomes speech
FatCatRex: was a narrative at the time it was written. Uses examples from classic literature (Shakespeare, Locke, Milton)
Anne: a question on the table today- do dictionaries function as narrative? Asked you to look up etymologies, so here is the definition of etymology- true sense of the word. Online etymology. Explanations vs. definitions. Culler quote, break into groups to look at word definitions
EVD: Fact, from what actually exists to what allegedly happened
ckosarek: Fact in latin, the source has several different meanings, like report
Aya: report can mean different things
veritatemdelixi: French standardize, so no comparison
Aya Seaver: german has some words that mean 2 things
ckosarek: fiction, latin root down to “deceive”, interesting because fiction sometimes aims at showing a universal truth
Owl: Reality- OED contradictory, kept looking up pieces of the definition. Reality is a matter of fact, narratives are contradictory
FatCatRex: interesting to look at how definitions look based on cultural narrative
Anne: can look up 2 words in each definition, keeps branching out
veritatemdelixi: get “poor word choice” on essays
SandraGandarez: open to personal definition too, how you want to use it
Aya Seaver: sometimes a reference point (dictionary definition). Etymology different, you need to be able to use a word properly, may not be able to absolutely define it
Anne: does it affect our understanding of our contemporary understanding of words when you look back to Latin roots? Change contemporary usage?
Owl: Reality Hunger- if you’re doing to agree that the history of a word is helpful in understanding it now, have to agree that stuff in the past was right
Anne: which dictionaries did we use? Set up exercise to look at it being a narrative or not. Interesting paper might be the history of a dictionary, source of restrictions
tgarber: edited a Wikipedia page
SandraGandarez: not so monitored
Aya Seaver: sibling’s school page got locked because of changed
SandraGandarez: Urban changes with history, more like a narrative
veritatemdelixi: dictionary very definitive to hold it, feel power
Aya Seaver: don’t catalogue entire human language experience, but a good portion of it