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When I say all words are a lie I am aiming for the same observation of Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" or the old koan about the finger and the moon. Argu

When I say all words are a lie I am aiming for the same observation of Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" or the old koan about the finger and the moon. Arguing about whether it's a lie (i.e. intentionally deceptive) or "just" untrue in a non-legal setting seems pedantic. Words lie to us. They make all appearances at being the thing we are referencing without a lick of their reality. Worse, we sometimes forget that words are just agreed upon fictions and use arguments about those fictions instead of getting at the reality of the matter.

yesenadam 5y ago
I don't think it's pedantic at all. It seems to me rude of you to say so. It's a very important distinction in everyday life, including in HN comments, between saying something that isn't true, and actually lying. No-one thinks the word "pipe" is a pipe, nor does it claim to be a pipe. And amid your claims of words being totally unreliable and deceptive, you seem to think I will know exactly what you mean by your words. Etc. Let's agree to disagree.
- JohnHaugeland 5y ago
  You are extremely pedantic. This is a fact, and in no way an insult even if wrong, despite that you may dislike it. All ten of your last ten comments are you attempting to teach strangers, without having been asked, despite not being an expert, based in your beliefs, without evidence. It seems likely that the reason you feel insulted is that you know that it's true and don't want to face it
  - yesenadam 5y ago
    Hehe ok, that sounds damning. > All ten of your last ten comments are you attempting to teach strangers, without having been asked, despite not being an expert, based in your beliefs, without evidence. So I looked.. ready to face an unpleasant truth about myself. I was pleasantly surprised that "All ten" is nothing like true. 1. > Yup, better would be "pronounce a surname from a non-English speaking culture in a way that sounds reasonably correct." Here I was agreeing with the parent. 2. > > "A" as in the "au" in "caught" > Not an expert, but I can't offhand think of a language where this is even approximately how a is pronounced—which ones are you thinking of? Parent and others evidently agreed as they soon changed the line to "A" as in "ah" (like "ah, I see"). Someone replied to my comment with a helpful link, my next comment was to quote from their link what I'd learnt from it, in the hope others could learn that too. Hmm I notice most of these threads now have your comments added, the kind of comment which more nearly fits your description of mine, I have to say. The next two comments are in this thread, me objecting to "All words are a lie". 4. My next comment was in response to an AskHN, Why is Martin Gardner no longer popular > Well, first I'd want to confirm or not the assumption in the question: Isn't he? Popular compared with when? etc. I see you have replied to that one too now, in part : "HN has too many people who attempt to look wise by doubting things without cause, when the actual wise thing is not to discuss your doubts, but to address them Unfortunately, the normal behavior is invisible, so people randomly admonishing one another gains the false appearance of being regular... > Popular compared with when? The past. The sentence makes this clear and unambiguous, as does our lack of time travel. " Ok.. that's getting creepy and silly. Please stop commenting on my comments. Your initial damning criticism of me seems to apply much more nearly to you, as is extremely common when advice or insults are given on this planet. Bye. I will report you immediately if you continue doing this. It's nowhere near OK. Stay away from me. (I looked at 5 further recent comments of mine, none of them at all fit your description. There's a few like "That's a fascinating book, and led to a fascinating wikipedia rabbit hole, thank you!" I'm puzzled how you came up with your "All ten", I think you didn't even look. Very strange.)

yesenadam 5y ago

I don't think it's pedantic at all. It seems to me rude of you to say so. It's a very important distinction in everyday life, including in HN comments, between saying something that isn't true, and actually lying. No-one thinks the word "pipe" is a pipe, nor does it claim to be a pipe. And amid your claims of words being totally unreliable and deceptive, you seem to think I will know exactly what you mean by your words. Etc. Let's agree to disagree.

JohnHaugeland 5y ago
You are extremely pedantic. This is a fact, and in no way an insult even if wrong, despite that you may dislike it. All ten of your last ten comments are you attempting to teach strangers, without having been asked, despite not being an expert, based in your beliefs, without evidence. It seems likely that the reason you feel insulted is that you know that it's true and don't want to face it
- yesenadam 5y ago
  Hehe ok, that sounds damning. > All ten of your last ten comments are you attempting to teach strangers, without having been asked, despite not being an expert, based in your beliefs, without evidence. So I looked.. ready to face an unpleasant truth about myself. I was pleasantly surprised that "All ten" is nothing like true. 1. > Yup, better would be "pronounce a surname from a non-English speaking culture in a way that sounds reasonably correct." Here I was agreeing with the parent. 2. > > "A" as in the "au" in "caught" > Not an expert, but I can't offhand think of a language where this is even approximately how a is pronounced—which ones are you thinking of? Parent and others evidently agreed as they soon changed the line to "A" as in "ah" (like "ah, I see"). Someone replied to my comment with a helpful link, my next comment was to quote from their link what I'd learnt from it, in the hope others could learn that too. Hmm I notice most of these threads now have your comments added, the kind of comment which more nearly fits your description of mine, I have to say. The next two comments are in this thread, me objecting to "All words are a lie". 4. My next comment was in response to an AskHN, Why is Martin Gardner no longer popular > Well, first I'd want to confirm or not the assumption in the question: Isn't he? Popular compared with when? etc. I see you have replied to that one too now, in part : "HN has too many people who attempt to look wise by doubting things without cause, when the actual wise thing is not to discuss your doubts, but to address them Unfortunately, the normal behavior is invisible, so people randomly admonishing one another gains the false appearance of being regular... > Popular compared with when? The past. The sentence makes this clear and unambiguous, as does our lack of time travel. " Ok.. that's getting creepy and silly. Please stop commenting on my comments. Your initial damning criticism of me seems to apply much more nearly to you, as is extremely common when advice or insults are given on this planet. Bye. I will report you immediately if you continue doing this. It's nowhere near OK. Stay away from me. (I looked at 5 further recent comments of mine, none of them at all fit your description. There's a few like "That's a fascinating book, and led to a fascinating wikipedia rabbit hole, thank you!" I'm puzzled how you came up with your "All ten", I think you didn't even look. Very strange.)