> It is appropriate that the fastest man on Earth is called Bolt.
Other world's fastest men:
* Gay
* Blake
* Powell
* Gatlin
* Coleman
* Bromell
* Omanyala
* Carter
Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
11–20 of 69 posts
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#12Only slightly related, it recently occurred to me while journaling that the dictates of English grammar do a fair bit of work in forming opinions. You might think you believe one thing, but when you set about describing it, the linguistic choices have a subtle influence over the content of your statements. Over the entirety of an exposition, that influence can amount to a significant shift in meaning. I guess that's…
Also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity
Nice. That theory seems quite a bit larger in scope. And intuitively it makes sense. What I had in mind was a more localized version of this which is sort of like a game of telephone within a language. It's not surprising that one's native language would affect the way one looks at things. But what seems more surprising is that choosing to express an idea one way vs. another within the same language can even end up communicating rather different sounding things. And the subconscious influence of the wording doesn't just have an effect on the reader but also on the author as well. Seems kinda like what is talked about in the Wikipedia article on Sapir-Whorf but also kinda different.
I think the effect takes a lot of different forms. It can happen as a result of connotations or homonyms of certain words. Or it can come down to artistic considerations. For example, one might prefer to express an idea in slightly different language that is less effective but more poetic sounding. Or maybe the author thinks it would be thrilling to make a very grand sounding statement when they had originally set out to touch on something more specific. And so the language ends up forming the idea just as much as it's meant to communicate it.
I think this is clearly evident in political debates where people talk themselves into a frenzy.
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#13Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#14> It is appropriate that the fastest man on Earth is called Bolt. Other world's fastest men: * Gay * Blake * Powell * Gatlin * Coleman * Bromell * Omanyala * Carter
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Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#15I once had my car towed by a person with the last name "Pullum". If the Universe really is some kind of Simulation, I suspect the QA's are getting lazy with the NPC names. Because that's EXACTLY how I name fake persons in unit tests. A police officer named Buddy Kopp, a traffic engineer named John Lane, a bbq pitmaster named Tray Burnham, etc.
This is almost every secondary character in Ace Attorney
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#16Only slightly related, it recently occurred to me while journaling that the dictates of English grammar do a fair bit of work in forming opinions. You might think you believe one thing, but when you set about describing it, the linguistic choices have a subtle influence over the content of your statements. Over the entirety of an exposition, that influence can amount to a significant shift in meaning. I guess that's…
To avoid this, I don't let my mind form words too early. Words can come to mind so effortlessly that I wonder if I'm saying what I really feel.
I refrain from describing what I want to say before I have a chance to search my brain for related concepts to convey or contrast my thoughts. Then I can decide if the thing I'm about to say matches how I feel about the subject.
If you feel like your language is determining your thoughts, then I recommend (aside from possibly bilingualism) just taking more time to choose your words. Supposedly, the "decision-making centers" in the brain tend to activate prior to the parts responsible for understanding and reasoning ... apparently implying that humans usually rationalize decisions we've already made rather than reasoning beforehand.
Then again, I'll digress because I also do that to compensate for my poor communication and multitasking skills, so others may not share my thinking style and limitations.
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#17I had a dermatologist named Dr. Scales. And an oral surgeon, Dr Paine.
Where I grew up there was a chain of funeral homes named "Amigone", run by a family of the same name.
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#18I once had my car towed by a person with the last name "Pullum". If the Universe really is some kind of Simulation, I suspect the QA's are getting lazy with the NPC names. Because that's EXACTLY how I name fake persons in unit tests. A police officer named Buddy Kopp, a traffic engineer named John Lane, a bbq pitmaster named Tray Burnham, etc.
My hometown had a few good ones, all doctors:
* A veterinarian named Dr. Bone
* A chiropractor named Dr. Bender
* An orthodontist named Dr. Owings
(Orthodontists are quite expensive.)
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#19It’s probably very Anglo-centric, because it took me a while to figure why the name „Bhatti” was marked as related to psychiatry.
Re: Nominative determinism in hospital medicine (2015)
#20I once knew a cardio thoracic surgeon named “Slaughter”.