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Re: First Thing's (?) First... logic don't enter into it
Subject:Re: First Thing's (?) First... logic don't enter into it From:"Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 22 Sep 2004 17:11:44 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: <dmbrown -at- brown-inc -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Cc: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: First Thing's (?) First... logic don't enter into it
>
> Wright, Lynne wrote:
>
> > ...its [sic] a colloquial expression, like "First Come, First Served,"
that
> > really makes no grammatical sense.
>
> What?! _Of_course_ "first come, first served" makes sense.
Where is the connection? Is it a tonal thing? It is implied by the
symmetry, but the adage might just as well be identifying two
qualifications: First come (augh. noun-izing the verb, is that a holdover
from German roots or something?), and first served (a perfectly normal
proposition).
As with Lynne's planisphere (waste/want), this is assumed to be two sides of
the same coin. But reversing them leads to new meanings.
The meaning behind Lynne's mom's adage must be something more like "Of all
the causes of want, I caution you against waste." To which she logically
replied that "Want is a leading cause of waste, too." Language (or grammar,
not sure which) is angels dancing on the head of a pin.
My granny had one that came close to being reversible: "Take all you want,
then want all you take." The conjunction is the weakness, as so often is
the case in English. When the language revolution comes, I hope that
conjunctions will be the first go.
Ned Bedinger
Ed Wordsmith Technical Communications
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