[net.nlang] Self-reference

benson@dcdwest.UUCP (06/06/83)

In an ad I read recently, I came upon the sentence:

	"obsolescence is becoming obsolete"

Shades of Quine and Douglas Hofstadter! this sentence
means:

	"becoming obsolete is becoming obsolete"

which is either a tautology  or one of those sentence like

	this statement is false
or
	"Yields a falsehood when prepended by a quoted version
of itself" yields a falsehood when prepended by a quoted
version of itself.

with the nice twist that it only does so in the limit.

Peter Benson
decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!benson

PS.
	While I am at it, I would like to point out the neon sign
appearing in restaurant windows -

		___________
		|   BUD   |
		|  LIGHT  |
		___________

which is, of course, exactly what it is, a Bud light.

leichter@yale-com.UUCP (06/09/83)

My favorite "self-reference" (of the general sort):

	Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.

							-- Jerry
						decvax!yale-comix!leichter