rathmann@brahms (the late Michael Ellis) (11/26/86)
>Edward J Cetron > Then Mr. Ellis posted again. That's impossible. I don't exist. >Big deal that ellis's >last posting was rot13 - so what if it offends no one for language - it is >STILL OFFENSIVE because it had several pages that had absolutely no content >at all I did not rot13 to hide offensive language, I rot13ed to make it easier for people to not bother with an article that they probably don't want to read in the first place. It was a warn- ing: all those expecting the meaning of usenet, please leave. >If you must post content-less articles, please (user@brahms and harnad) go >back to posting them in talk.bizarre where they belong (and are then worth >something.....) Bad boy me. I will retire to contemplating my non-existence in talk.philosophy.misc. But before I go, a small linguistic point needs clarification. >Mark Steven Jeghers >>Jordan Hayes >>What's the difference between "You have shit for brains" and "You don't >>have shit for brains" ...? I'm not sure ... *ugh* >Simple. "You have shit for brains" means that your brain is made primarily >of shit. "You don't have shit for brains" means that your brain is made >primarily of things other than shit. I see you belong to the fecocerebral school of linguistic anal- ysis too, where words mean just what they say. Right. This completely misses the important question raised by Mr Hayes. ``You have shit for brains'' is a rude insult, whereas ``You don't have shit for brains'' is a rude insult. See the difference? I have a not-yet-published paper on this, entitled: "The Fecation of the English Tongue: Reflections on Current Trends in `Nonpolite' Usage." Limited preprints are available on request, but you have to supply the postage. As I said recently in a similar situation, utter crap. -michael A monk asked Ummon, "What is Buddha?" Ummon replied, "Kanshiketsu!" A shiketsu, or "shit-stick" (kan, dry; shi, shit; ketsu, stick), was used in old times instead of toilet paper. It is once both private and polluted. But in samadhi there is no private or public, no pure or polluted. He hurriedly took up shiketsu to support the Way. The decline of Buddhism was thus foreshadowed. Both minds are in unison; "kanshiketsu" corresponds to the Buddha as a lid fits the chest it was made for. Heart meets heart in warmth and intimacy. o Kanshiketsu! He is entirely innocent. He adheres to nothing. He is supremely free. o He hurriedly took up shiketsu. Unflustered, as quick as lightning, Ummon answered. o The decline of Buddhism. Mumon is always saying the opposite of what he means. -from Kasuki Sekida's translation of "Mumonkan, the Gateless Gate"