Sorry for the rant, but I'm beginning to wonder about the British. Today
I'm wondering what has happened to dear old Britain's ability to give us
joy with the way its citizens can use the English language. As examples,
I submit two bits of new text; one from today's copy of a British film
industry analysis journal, the other a quote from a British actor
playing a posh role supposedly requiring a reasonable acquaintance with
correct speech:
A - Screen Digest - a supposedly intellectual following of the film
industry commenting on the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray battle:
"Broadly speaking, Screen Digest believes that there are four possible
outcomes to the format battle:"
1 - HD-DVD wins
2 - Blu-Ray wins
3 - Both win
4 - Both lose
They believe that those are the most likely possibilities do they?
Having pre-supposed that only win or loss is possible; those four
combinations are the ONLY possibilities. Always. Of course, they may
have developed a binary logic with results hitherto invisible to the
rest of us lowly mortals, but more likely is their need to pretend great
intellectual perspicacity by bombarding us with tautologies.
B - Daniel Craig, the latest actor playing James Bond, pleading for an
unprejudiced viewing of his characterisation of the role saying:
"If I went onto the Internet and started looking at what some people
were saying about me - which, sadly, I have done - it would drive me
insane," the British actor says in an interview in Entertainment Weekly
magazine, on newsstands Friday."
So, I gather that he is making a public declaration of personal
insanity, or at least showing a moderate level of incompetence with the
principles of logical thought as expressed in English.
When I was studying logic and Boolean arithmetic at school, we were
given complex phrases in English to encode/decode as a means of learning
the process, but also to instil an appreciation of the way in which
modern languages can be used to express elegantly complex ideas in clear
simple ways. The brits in the courses seemed to have an edge as they had
already been informally schooled in the logical use of English through
daily practise. What has happened to them in the intervening 25 years?
The logic-mangling bunch active today need to be locked one at a time in
a round room with a cruel teacher armed with an electric cattle prod and
a copy of The Art of Extempore Speaking (written by a Frenchman). Ye
Gods, I hate sloppy thought!
Moaning mode off. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! I promise
my next contribution to the list will be a real Triumph question.
Cheers,
Mark
1972 TR6
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