Actually that word" Foopgoom"had an essence to me, from the first time i saw it. I recognized it as something i had never seen before,definitely a design of something to play with and manipulate like" PoonToom" or "Raatoon"etc.. ab
On Dec 19, 2013, at 7:55 AM, [email protected] wrote: > In a message dated 12/18/13 10:22:16 PM, [email protected] writes: > > >> As I see it, every thing under the sun has an essence, that is impossible >> to >> express. >> It is as evasive as the individuals that express it. >> > Yes, the notion behind the word 'essence' is evasive, and that's because > it's almost never clear, stable, specific. And that, say I, is because none > of the wildly various notions of "essence" has what I'll call a "referent" > in the way we might loosely say our "notion" of the Eiffel Tower (and the > term 'Eiffel Tower') has a referent: the "real" iron structure in Paris. > > The following is an excerpt from something I've been writing. I'm aware > that my saying there "are" no "real world" non-notional "words" will > immediately be considered by some to be so nutty they'll hang up right there: > > BREN > Should have said that earlier. Words don't exist. > KIT > Excuse me? Excuse me!? Watch this! > [KIT picks up a book, riffles pages.] > KIT (CONT'D) > I see thousands of words printed on paper! Right here! Wheeee! > [KIT tosses a couple of books to BREN.] > BREN > I catch your drift, Woman. But no. You see ink on paper; you've never seen > a "word" in your life. Or heard one. "Foopgoom!" You heard a sound there. > But did you hear a "word"? How would you tell? Run to your nice little > dictionary? The latest ones have lots of "new words". But they're only sounds > they've at last decided to call "words". What was their "is-ness" before? > KIT > Their 'is-ness'. What's their "is-ness"?! > BREN > You know -- that fictitious "essence" thing that you believe makes a thing > not merely what you call it, but what it "really IS"! "Wordness" -- like all > "nesses" -- is a strictly mental invention, like unicorns. And etiquette. > KIT > Not fictitious! Some sounds are words, and some just aren't! > BREN > I'll bet you never thought about how some lucky sounds get to become > "words". Remember Clarence, in It's a Wonderful Life? He has to remain an > "angel-second-class" until he gets his wings and somewhere a bell rings? > "Sounds-second-class" are like Clarence. Here's how. > > One winter in Switzerland, I found a thing in my room that I called a > 'foopgoom'. I thought it was so apt a label, I put my case to Plato and his Word > Committee way up there. In their meeting last Thursday, they unanimously > declared 'foopgoom' to be a real word! And they made it official by ringing a > big bell they call the verbell! That Swiss object now really IS a > foopgoom!...Get the point, Kit? > KIT > That's a bad joke. > BREN > Isn't it!
