Grammar is good for the soul.

2003-09-17 - 3:14 a.m.

So, anyone who suddenly finds grammar fun, raise their hand.

Good for you.

Join me in the padded room.

I'm sure that I'm sick in the head, but my grammar class is frickin' fun. While talking about nouns, specifically abstract vs concrete (the official definition of a "concrete" noun is a noun that you can actually touch (I didn't bring this up, but I assume that the definition actually means "you can touch, even though you may not feel it, or it may kill you, or you may kill someone else by touching it." I'm disocovering (re-discovering, actually) that a heck of a lot of my thoughts in class revolve around strange ways for someone to die. Secret confession: Grammar demands this obsession.)

Anywho...we're talking about concrete vs abstract and the subject of "A pig" comes up. Now, you can actually touch a pig, right? Concrete noun, case closed.

But what if you are using a metaphor? ie, the pig is actually a person who acts like a pig. The "pigginess" is a creation, not something you can actually touch. Is, in this case, "A pig" a concrete noun?

I think it is, but I spent the next 10 minutes of class imagining myself going up to "A pig" of a person, poking them, and then saying, "I'm a grammar student. I have to do this. To see if you're abstract."

And then, obviously ('cause I'm The Magus), I considered other abstractions:

"Sorry, accountant, but I had to touch you, to find out if you're an abstraction."

"Sorry, Mother Earth, but I had to touch you, to find out if you're an abstraction."

"Sorry, Mom, but I had to touch you, to find out if you're an abstraction."

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

Giggle!

Oh, I can see that grammar is going to be a bad influence on me.

Cheers,

The Magus

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