Word salads.

 From a discussion on Germaine's today.

 I was talking about things I experienced that I don't believe I experienced because I don't believe what I experienced existed.

Is that a word salad or is it too short for a word salad? In fact, what is a word salad?

a mixture of words or phrases that is confused and difficult to understand:

I don't buy it. I have known a lot of word salads that were easy to understand and not at all confusing, but were repetitive and wordy. So, let's try another definition:

More often, word salad describes utterances perceived by others as nonsense—especially when the speaker is trying to make a somewhat serious impression or speak about a serious topic:

Now THAT makes more sense. Take this thread for instance. It may "perceived by others" to be a word salad, while here I am trying to make a somewhat serious impression. 

Now you aren't buying it, right?

Take some of the threads posted on various forums, that are long and wordy, and use oft-repeated phrases, are they explanative, or word salads?

Or if someone takes a topic and addresses with a long clinical analysis full of words and meanings and suggestions, are they word salads?

Has the term word salad become an insult you might want to hurl at someone when you simply don't understand what they are getting at?

Now, take the analogy, of what a salad really is..........

We all know what salad is, right? That might sound like a ridiculous thing to even bother asking, but actually stop and consider for a moment what the definition of a salad is. Your first thought probably centers on lettuce, but what then do we make of pasta salad, tuna salad, or those strange Jell-O-based salads of the mid-1900s? None of these dishes contain any lettuce, yet they bear the name "salad" all the same. The more you think about salad, the less clear its meaning becomes, as countless lettuceless varieties come to mind, like chicken salad or fruit salad.

So a word salad can be whatever you make of it? Sounds about right. 

Now your turn! What in your estimation is a word salad? Did I just present one here?




Do we know any users on here that use word salads? Besides myself? 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Image
Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda. By   DARREN LINVILL   &   PATRICK WARREN Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t  “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,”  as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy. Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously. MORE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/ Posted by Jamie B.
Read more

The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term

Image
The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term   (Photo: Photos: Getty Images) Americans will almost certainly go to bed on Nov. 3 without knowing who won the presidential election. Since millions of people will vote by mail, constraints on time and resources will slow ballot counting into potentially a weeks-long process. Voting patterns suggest it’s likely that President  Donald Trump  could end Election Day in the lead in certain key states, only to be overtaken by Democratic opponent  Joe Biden  when more votes are tallied.  This could create a nightmare scenario during the three months stretching from Election Day to the Jan. 20 inauguration: a battle on the state and congressional level over who is the legitimate winner. This could include Congress reconvening on Jan. 6, presided over by Vice President  Mike Pence , with no consensus over its potential role in choosing the next president. This is arguably the most likely of th
Read more

Philosophical Question #14 – Lifestyle Choices

Image
Here is an interesting question in my list of philosophical questions: 1.) Should governments have penalties for those who live unhealthy lifestyles? A list of unhealthy lifestyles would include things like smoking, drinking, illegal drugs, prostitution, and other “vice” type activities. I guess the “government penalties” would be referring to monetary punishments, withholding medical treatments (insurance companies would love that), possibly imposing/regulating very high (exorbitant) prices on things considered unhealthy in order to cut down on their use, and other possibilities. 2.) Or, would you say that living an unhealthy lifestyle, likely resulting in a LOT of eventual personal pain and suffering, should be punishment enough for unhealthy lifestyles? When people make bad choices in life, often in their youth where ignorance and immediate gratification takes them over,  3.) Should a society be obligated to help "fix" them, by way of tax money?   Is that part of
Read more