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#1 | |
Snowflake
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Dystopia
Posts: 13,136
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Quote:
Let me explain: If I have a contract stating that I will be paid $100 dollars to paint a fence, I can't turn around and claim that I should be paid $100 because I pissed on the fence. I can't say that the contract has to specify that painting the fence means painting it and not pissing on it, shitting on it, sneezing on it, etc. I'm not being sneaky by signing this contract, then pissing on the fence and demanding payment. Because that's stupid. Words mean things. Invasion means invasion.
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****************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio |
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#2 |
™
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
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Legal briefs and judicial rulings put definitions of key terms and phrases in the front of them all the time.
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#3 |
Snowflake
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Dystopia
Posts: 13,136
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Yes, but do they use imaginary definitions?
Or, more to the point, unless they state that a word means what it actually means, can you later claim that it means something that it clearly doesn't and never has? Does my fence painting contract have to specifically state that I will not be paid for shitting on the ground next to the fence, because "shitting next to" does not mean "painting"?
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****************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio |
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#4 |
™
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
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I don't think so, but have you ever read a contract? Most of them go on for pages, attempting to cover as many situations as possible. Some are truly ridiculous.
Edit: And a fence painting contract will probably go into some detail about what level of work is required. How much scraping. How much cleaning. Method of application, how many coats, conditions under which the paint will be applied, etc. |
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#5 |
Snowflake
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Dystopia
Posts: 13,136
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If it states "You must apply three coats" can I say that I pissed on it three times because it didn't provide a definition of "you", a definition of "must", a definition of "apply", a definition of "three", and a definition of "coats"? Can I say that it didn't specify that "three" means "three" and not "zero" and then demand payment for applying zero coats?
What I'm getting at is that you can't foresee all possible absurdist interpretations, so at some level words have to mean something. By default, what they actually mean. Later, contrived meanings and things-you-wished-they-meant don't apply just because they didn't say "it doesn't mean that".
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****************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio |
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#6 | |
Constitutional Scholar
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 4,006
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Quote:
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"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death." - George Carlin |
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#7 | |
The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Quote:
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
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#8 |
Makes some feel uncomfortable
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,346
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Like someone's house being invaded by roaches or the "British invasion"? What does the word "arms" mean, as in "the right to bear arms"?
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#9 |
still eats dirt
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 3,031
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