— Matthew White
—[White]-o-Glyphics:Introduction (White-o-glyphics)
These glyphs translate as “It was a dark and stormy night.”
Fascinating stuff.
It reminds me of a long bus ride that I spent sitting next to a hearing-impaired woman. I had learned the American Sign Language alphabet in third grade, but after spending several hours with this woman I figured out the grammar, and was able to generate my own signs based on the rules I had internalized, and she was able to understand me. Of course, if there was ever a word I didn’t understand I would start to spell it and she would provide me with the proper sign, so our ability to communicate didn’t depend solely on what I learned.
Meanwhile, colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
I’ll probably be teaching a “Media in Culture” course next spring, and everywhere I look these days, I’ve found another wonderful nugget.
Chomsky references! Great stuff. I tend to think more in terms of communication. With all the emphasis on polished grammar in high school and the job market, it’s funny that grammar is often a secondary aspect of communication. I often cringe at the emphasis of APA style in psychology programs. Style of publication is easier to learn and implement than, say, the research. I think it’s much harder to learn how to write a coherent literature review or conceptualize effective research with the resources available.