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Why do you consider simpler the use of the incomprehensible expression “through the looking glass”, as a looking glass is something you cannot see (view) throug
by gumby 2y ago
Why do you consider simpler the use of the incomprehensible expression “through the looking glass”, as a looking glass is something you cannot see (view) through.
Lewis Carroll’s use of “Through the Looking-Glass” in the title of one of his books is an explicit joke in this regard. I don’t think you meant that same joke.
- gerdesj 2y agoOf course you can see "through" a looking glass (mirror) - you will see yourself. That's what they are for - direct reflection. "Through the looking glass" involves physical movement via a mirror and that is science fiction or fantasy or both (pick your genre or hit the drugs!) When I want to verify I have shaved fully, I look through a mirror, which is not a sight for the nervous ... first thing in the morning! There are half silvered mirrors and you can get a similar effect with a window, where you can see yourself and what lies beyond at the same time.
- gumby 2y agoWe see in a mirror, not through one. Yes, a half silvered mirror can be seen in and through, but that’s hardly true of the mirrors of the time when the archaic term “glass” meant what we call a “mirror”.
- gerdesj 2y agoSorry to be a pain but put a ruler on the end of your nose (for accuracy, stick it in your eye) and touch the other end to a mirror. You may have to adjust yourself a bit but you will see two rulers, end to end, from you to you'. One of them is in your hand and the other one is an image (and also has your "hand" holding it) but it still has the property of measurement. The image of yourself that you see "in" the mirror isn't actually "in" the mirror. The rulers are showing you that the mirror is doing something that causes an image of you to appear exactly twice the distance from you to the mirror. The mirror image of yourself is actually on your own retina, which is exactly the distance from you to the mirror and from the mirror to you. We can debate semantics and to be fair, most people will use your terminology. It's bloody hard to ignore the "evidence" of your own eyes!
- tomrod 2y agoAye. OP just wanted to evoke biblical verbiage for an opaque outcome
- rkagerer 2y agoFair point, I should have said "lens".
- gumby 2y agoSince you were talking about choice of language I thought I’d seize the opportunity to make a jocular comment on your own choice of words. Hope you saw it in the spirit intended.