2011-07-26 03:04:17 +02:00
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#+title: Atem: a new word
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2011-07-27 02:44:23 +02:00
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#&summary
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A presentation of the new word 'atem' and why it's so desperately needed
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#&
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#+license: bysa
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2011-07-26 03:04:17 +02:00
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2011-07-27 02:44:23 +02:00
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* Atem: a new word
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Have you ever checked the Wiktionary entry for 'meta'? I have. It's right
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[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meta#English][here]]. When I looked at it, I noticed that there were no antonyms. *None!*
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But why?
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#+caption: This alien agrees.
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#&img;url=/img/aliens/lulala.png,float=right,width=200
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I often find it useful to be able to un-metaize complex thoughts: instead of
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thinking about thinking (meta-thinking), I think. Nothing else. However, when I
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mention that "I think", it may not be obvious that before I was thinking, I was
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thinking about thinking, which is why I have chosen to create *atem*, a new
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word whose only function is to act as meta's antonym. With this word, I can now
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say that "I atem-think", meaning "I think because I thought of thinking", or I
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can say that "I think", meaning "I think". 'atem' removes a lot of ambiguity
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from the English language.
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Ok, maybe not that often, but sometimes it's useful.
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Also, *atem* could be quite useful in abstract definitions, as a way to focus
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on making something abstract concrete instead of making something concrete
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abstract. For example, this page is probably an atem-page, because somewhere
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out there there's a page about this page.
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Perhaps every object in existence could be considered an atem object. It's not
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impossible, it just doesn't make much sense.
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Still, this word could be useful. I hope it gets into a dictionary.
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2012-02-11 18:17:41 +01:00
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* Update, February 11, 2012 (UTC)
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I just found out that I'm not the only one who at some point found the lack of
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a meta antonym strange and annoying. Naturally, I can't rely on Wiktionary to
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give me the latest opinions on language extensions.
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A recent internet search for "meta antonym" gave me several links to pages
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where other people discussed the need. Someone have even proposed the word
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"mesa". I don't care if the new antonym becomes "atem", "mesa" (which I guess
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has nothing to do with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_(computer_graphics)][this Mesa]]), or something else --- I just want it to
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exist.
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