Re: [tlug] [REMINDER] "Defending the Creative Commons"

[dboudrea@example.com]

Very interesting discussion and reactions...

Recently, my local video store (a Tsutaya) _finally_ started offering episodes
of "The Sopranos" so it's available in Japan.  I have watched the entire first
season now.  I've seen the first episode 3 or 4 times, but the last time I
watched it, I caught something new in the wonderful dialogue, having to do with
our discussion about linguistics evolution... in it, Tony Soprano gets some
encouraging feedback from his therapist, who says something like, "Well it
sounds to me like you've been very kind to your mother... Green Grove is the
best retirement community available.  It's like living in a penthouse suite at
Cape Ann Teebes(?sp??).  I know seniors who are inspired-- and _inspiring_, at
Green Grove."

Later on in the episode, Tony Soprano meets with his mother and tries to convey
these positive aspects to her.  However, he gets it a little convoluted and
manages to screw it up (but with a mother like his, it's very understanding).
She says "you're not gonna stick me in some nursing home!", to which Tony
replies, "How many times do I have to tell you, it's not a nursing home, it's a
_retirement_community_!  Some say it's like living in a porno suite at Captain
Teebes... I know seniors who are inspired...."  His mother wasn't impressed.
She did ask who Captain Teebes was, though, to which Tony replied "I don't know,
some guy that owns a hotel chain...."  (My question is, what did his therapist
say originally?  Is there a famous resort in Cape Ann or something by a similar
sounding name?)

However, I think this problem with language acquisition is different from the
technical jargon evolution of using the term "architect" in computer science,
even as a verb.  I don't think of men in hardhats with blueprints, I think of a
formal way to go about designing a building with it's own accepted norms of
symbols and standards for representing dreams/ideas on paper, in the transition
stage to get those dreams made into buildings.  There is often a flair and
artistic side to architecture, but there's also a science to it, eg where to
make room for the plumbing, or whatever to make it all practical.  This is
perfectly analogus to software design.  That's why I think it's apt.  As for the
original beef with the use of "architect" as a verb, what is wrong with having
doctors doctor?  In fact, I believe that use _has_ been borrowed, eg "this paper
has been doctored" when people mean that something has been tailored/edited--
and even fabricated.  If doctors were allowed to do doctoring in the first
place, ie meaning they operated, went on rounds, wrote prescriptions in shitty
handwriting, and did whatever doctors do, it would give English speakers a way
to convey that action as a verb.  In Japanese they do this, and I think it helps
the language-- just add "(o) suru" to whatever word, and it can work.  When I
practiced judo, I often said I _did_ judo, _played_ judo, yet always yearned for
something _more_, as a native English speaker-- to be able to say something
more, I don't know, more _complicated_, so it would be more consistent with the
complexity of other expressions.  English has more words than just about any
other language I believe; that's not always such a good thing.

I think it's important to note the value of conjuring up new jargon (technical
jargon in our case), and the conveniences of borrowing vocabularies from other
areas of the greater superset of the English language.  It doesn't overly
complicate things in the general scope of the spoken language, because it will
exist in a new context all to its own.  And for technical jargon, at such a fast
clip of new technologies coming out and being actively used right away it's
especially useful.  I'm not a linguist (btw Larry Wall studied linguistics, I
believe).

This is from Ray Ozzie's (the inventor of Lotus Notes) web log (read the rest of
this particular article at
http://www.ozzie.net/blog/stories/2002/10/01/marketOpportunity.html ):

"The nature of the shared space shapes the process of collaboration. Rapid
prototyping and breadboarding, sketching, jamming, all introduce collaborative
vocabularies; speaking the same language is a prerequisite to collective
understanding. One cannot divorce the language of collaboration from the medium
that carries it, and even one medium can carry several languages: talk & music
aurally, video & sketches & paintings visually, and so on. Visual and aural and
tactile language elements are all woven into a continuous flow of communication
that shapes understanding."

One area where this has happened was in video games production, especially that
of 3D games.  Much of the jargon borrows from theater/movie production, but
there are complex issues that theater production never had to deal with so that
medium of choreographing a simple stage isn't completely adequate a lot of the
time.

Do we communicate better than we did 100 years ago?  I would argue that we do,
actually, all things considered.  First of all more of us are literate.  Second
of all technology has reached more of the masses.  True, back then, they had to
be more creative and put more effort into communicating, so handwritten letters
were a lot more common etc. but was there the same efficiency that we have
today?  Stock markets have had many ups and downs since then, but the general
trend is up.  Humans are even slightly taller than they were 100s of years ago;
I think we have matured in many ways, communication being one of them.

David Boudreau