I was just at one of those chain coffee and pastry shops, meeting a student. I ordered a coffee and a pastry. After ringing up the total and apparently finding it too low, the person behind the counter said, "What was your order again? It sounded like you ordered more than that...."
So I repeated my order. Seeing that she had correctly entered it into the register, she said, "I was making it out to be more than it appeared to be." Smiling, I corrected her: "Well, not exactly-- It appeared to you to be more than it is." This must have offended her. In a tone indicating that I had a few things to learn, she replied, "That's... what... I... said."
Spiros 0; Confused Employee, 1.
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6 comments:
It sounds like the exchange Russell mentions on "On Denoting" (?):
A: "I thought your yacht was larger than it is"
B (pissed): "No, my yacht is not larger than it is."
Is there much hope
in disambiguating the scope?
It would appear from her response
that the answer is "nope."
It appears who mis-spoke
would depend on "appears"--
you referred to her mind--
but she your arrears--
as what she perceived
of what you cashiered.
My god you must be hard to live with!
"More than it appeared to be"
means it's larger to some degree,
in what we call reality.
"More to you than what it is,"
indicates that it isless,
yet even less for Spiros sorting out this sort of mess.
I don't write poems,
Not even really bad ones,
There is no third line.
Epitaph for an Attempt at Public Philosophy
There was a barista at work
Who rang up the joe for a jerk
But, perplexed by the sum,
she couldn’t stay mum,
And took on the task of a clerk.
The jerk, it turns out, was a Prof,
Who, surely without sneer or scoff,
Said “I confess, since
appearance ain’t essence,
Your numbers are surely not off.”
But, alas, there was no felicity
In Spiros’s fine specificity,
And the coffee got cold,
and no bagels were sold,
For Philosophy lacks catholicity.
Poor Spiros - stuck in linguistics when attempting to raise to the level of philosophy.
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