Thursday, February 7, 2008

Wasted words

Sometimes I think my words here are wasted... there doesn't seem to be much activity (as evidenced by comments, or lack thereof). But that's not the real meaning of the title of this post. We were at dinner a little while ago (Casa Blanca, yum; I ate too much, though...), and I overheard my daughter say to my eldest son, "I've never heard anyone say that before."

That got me thinking.

Isn't that a silly thing? I mean, if you're saying that, you've probably just heard whatever it is that your claiming you've never heard. If, in fact, it's something you've never actually heard before saying it, then by the mere fact of your saying it it becomes something you've now heard (since you've just heard yourself say it, whatever it is). Technically, I suppose, in the latter case, the statement may be true during the time of its utterance, but by the time you're done saying it it is no longer true.

Ok, I'm tired... that's enough for this post...

5 comments:

Christy said...

Huh, I've never heard it put that way before. ;)

Tony M said...

Heh-heh... yeah, I'd never heard such a thing, either! :)

cosmiccowgirl said...

Would the meaning have been changed if instead she had said "I never heard anyone else say that before"? I can see that comment in context - maybe he was making a case about something by bringing up a statement in fact that she disagreed was established fact - and, conversely, sometimes people say things we have heard before. However, I do see what you are saying.

Tony M said...

Yeah, that would be a more valid (as Amateurink once implied at this blog post, "valid" seems to be a word that doesn't lend itself to have any preceding modifiers, often making them redundant) way of saying it. In fact, that's probably what is meant when the statement I noted in the original post is made. It's funny, though, the way people will say things... I think I just enjoy twisting words (especially other people's words). This drives my family crazy, of course, as usually they are the recipients of my verbal jousting (sounds like I need to do another video...). However, it does keep them sharp, and they're coming to the point where the opportunities to make these jousts are spreading out, becoming less frequent. I guess that's a good thing, right?

Hence said...

Or, "I had never heard that said before", possibly?

Or maybe like saying, "I'm speechless!" ;)