do unto others…
Lewis Carroll’s invention of portmanteau words in the 1870′s is coming full circle, again. Recently, the ongoing theme of group & collective have been the topic of many posts on CUPtopia. Can the group’s acceptance of change be a given? In other words, the group would not be typecast…aka, a one trick pony.
“Portmanteau word” is used to describe a linguistic blend, namely “a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings.“
In 1874, Carroll combined the words snake and shark to create SNARK. His poem, “The Hunting of the Snark” is a passage to adventure for the discovery of inconceivable creatures. Many disregarded the poem as non-sensical, but “The Hunting of the Snark“, along with many of Carroll’s work have been analyzed for more than a century. The construction of fantasy with language involves the lost art of storytelling. Building myths for a generation per yesterday’s post, was just a bunch of individuals who wanted to published. BUT, similar to Carroll before them, they understood the impact a tall tale has on an audience. The impact or sonic boom comes long after, as others retell the tale. The long-lasting effects of language, and actually having something to say, are hopefully not being lost. The inspiration produced by poems & stories transcend a logical timetable. By the way, when was the last time you re-read a book…so, as to stop time.
NEW BREEDS : Hybridization examples include a zorse (zebra-horse)
Recent discoveries have produced the following in science.
“In 2006, a hunter in the Canadian Arctic shot a bear that had white fur like a polar bear’s but had brown patches, long claws and a hump like a grizzly bear’s. DNA analysis confirmed the animal was a hybrid of the two species. While several examples of human-bred animal hybrids are well known and can thrive in captivity including zorses (zebra-horse), beefalo (bison-beef cattle) and, of course, mules (donkey-horse), naturally occurring animal hybrids have many factors working against their longer-term success.” ( read entire NY Times article )
The point being, which world are we living in?…Mr. Carroll’s? or Mother Nature’s?
jdavit are discussing. 
jdavit 6:44 pm on September 14, 2010 Permalink |
can our human groups/collectives be compared to Mother Nature? scout bees have their own form of storytelling, with the most enthusiastic story chosen to lead the swarm to its new home. maybe ants are a better example as they seem to be completely unaware of stories, and yet millions of individual trails and signifiers are left behind to guide the group as a whole. in other words, can a group be described in any terms other than the momentum of individual decisions?
Bruno 11:26 pm on September 14, 2010 Permalink |
I would argue that the worlds (mother natures & carolls) are in a sub grouped chart together. together they explore the scope of an anexact and rigorous combinatory frenzy that in most cases is unobtainable through sythetic methods