Re: Order & meaning in a proposition

On Tue, 6 Apr 2004 14:59:46 -0400, "Laconic2" <laconic2_at_comcast.net> wrote:

>I don't know protocol for state dinners, but it wouldn't surprise me at all
>if protocol dictated that the most important person should be seated last,
>not first.
>
>
>What difference does it make? Well, let's say that Dawn had said the above
>sentence, unconsciously putting the President first due to his importance,
>and the sentence were heard by someone who "knows" that protocol works as I
>suggested above. (Incidentally, this case works even when the listener
>"knows something" that ain't so.) The listener responds, "What a breach of
>protocol!" Dawn is puzzled.
>
>Is this too far out?

Oddly enough, I was thinking along similar lines, but rather than thinking protocol had been breached, I had the listener inferring no meaning from the sequence of persons in the statement. Reading information into a statement seems to me to be highly personal and context sensitive.

Lemming

-- 
Curiosity *may* have killed Schrodinger's cat.