On Aug 1, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Mark Atwood wrote:
On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Hadriel Kaplan
<HKaplan(_at_)acmepacket(_dot_)com> wrote:
Fascinating. I had no idea that there even *was* such a phrase in common
usage, let alone that there was known etymology for it. One learns
something new every day.
But I meant it quite literally: a moderate/humble/etc. proposal for Friday
meeting schedule.
English is funny that way, and it's one of the things that make it
such a difficult language to learn. A great deal of the meaning is
not in the literal meaning of a given chain of words, but is also
contained in the historical and literary allusions that given phrases
may have, which often have the direct opposite or at least very
different meaning than the literal words.
I believe that "problem" exists in other languages also.
I also don't think that Swift forever changed the meaning of "modest proposal"
by writing that article. Those with a familiarity of English literature might
see another potential meaning in those words, but the "normal" meaning still
applies.
Keith
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