Humpty Dumpty

The passage reads, “ ‘I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’" Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. ‘Of course you don’t -- till I tell you. I mean ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ‘But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument,’" Alice objected. ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ” Indeed, Humpty Dumpty has done what many have done by assuming the right to change the meaning of a word to fit what he wanted it to mean. Thoughts are considered to be a form of free private expression, but thoughts are not free. Thoughts are constantly molded into other’s ideals with a small fragment of personal expression added to the mix. Like Humpty Dumpty, people take a word with a meaning already assigned to it and strip it of its meaning to add a new one that seems more suitable to the user by adding his or her personal flair to it. Plato argues that people have the right to do this. Plato suggests that it is natural to establish words in different categories based on its meaning, but Nietzsche opposes this idea by believing people do not have the right to assign a definite meaning to a word since the word is defined out of convenience to be placed in a category that does not exist. Humpty Dumpty and Plato’s beliefs are evident in thoughts formed by language. With each…

increases our point of view of God’s character, Lewis goes on to discuss another way miracles reveal God’s character to us. Lewis talks about a “second class of miracles.” They show us the reasons behind God’s actions. The man on the tightrope would not be able to understand this either, since he is already limited and is further limited in the fact that he can’t see the beginning or the end of the tightrope. He cannot understand the creation of the tightrope he stands on even in that moment.…

Rebecca St. James who was also a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter. The brothers moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1991 because of their father’s job relocation as a music promoter. During high school, the brothers did background vocals for their sister, Rebecca. After Luke graduated high school, him and his brother thought about forming a band. In 2007, they started performing as a band named “Joel and Luke”, which was later changed to “Austoville”. In 2009, they signed on with Warner…

I think there is no better way for me to do this than to start it out with a One Tree Hill quote (Season 3 Episode 1 if you couldn't remember). I actually just watched this episode today. Of course, when I watch the show I think about you because you're the one that recommended it, but every once in a while there are quotes that really make me think of you. This quote really came at a timely moment for me. I have been thinking about this since you were here last Wednesday. I think I want you to…

Barry Humphries, better known to some by the names of his alter-egos Sir Les Patterson, Dame Edna Everage, and Sandy Stone, among others, has been called “the greatest comic genius of our age”, and even “the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin” (Ann Pender). Others might call him a crude abomination____. Either way, nearly everyone who has heard of Barry Humphries has something to say about him. Australians, “Poms”, and Americans alike are enraged and captivated by his…

We all know the nursery rhymes which we loved as a kid and sing to other children. Most people think of it as a child's song with no other meaning or maybe just a song of history. But they have what we might call a dark side, so prepare yourself for what you're about to here. Let's start with Ring Around the Rosie. Ring Around the Rosie came to be by the “Black Death” outbreak in the 14th century which spread, and killed about 15% of the country's population that's a lot in the 14th century.…

languages and cultures, and using rhetorical questions for her audience of students, scientists, and professionals. Boroditsky applies references to common knowledge by using nursery rhymes, popular culture, and a literary allusion. By using common knowledge in the text, the author helps readers understand that language changes the way we think by using examples that the reader will recognize to understand complex ideas and to relate them to everyday life. For example, Boroditsky uses the…

adulthood. In a more clearer sense, the characters of the Caterpillar and Humpty Dumpty are important figures to acknowledge, because they play the role of keeping the repression away from Alice’s mind, more specifically, the repression of childhood. Caterpillar tells Alice in the first book to, “Keep your temper” (Carroll 41), which is one of the first cautions that Carrol gives to Alice. The advice has double meaning directed towards Alice, which is to not get mad, and to always stay as you…

These examples include the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, a language study done at Stanford University, and a research experiment completed in Pormpuraaw, a remote Aboriginal community in Australia (Boroditsky, 437-439). The choice to add the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme as an example of how language shapes the way people think connects Boroditsky’s argument to her audience on an emotional…

In fact, in an argument over which view is right, we may miss a vital detail; that none of them are. And that is once again the point; the poem is not a riddle to be figured out, nor is it another language that needs translating. It is nonsense, plain and simple, and was written with ambiguity as the intention. And so while Humpty Dumpty is right in saying that “slithy toves” are fantastical creatures moving in a lithe and slimy manner (Carroll, 2014), I am equally correct in my interpretation…