The suprarelative degree

All languages have a way to compare. In the Romance and Germanic languages, the way to compare is to have a language marker that indicates one item or person who is in some way compared to another item or person. English does this with the word more (as in Your furniture is more padded than the furniture you looked at in the store) or with the suffix -er (as in Your grass is greener than your neighbors. This way of indicating two items' juxtaposition is called the comparative degree. Another way of comparing is to take three or more items and single one of them out for some reason. English does this with the word most (as in Your furniture is the most padded of all the furniture in the stores we went to today) or with the suffix -est (as in Your grass is the greenest on the block). This way of indicating three or more items' juxtaposition is called the superlative degree. One can also use less and least should the comparison be opposite in nature from more and most.

I have gone around the block more than a few times when it comes to comparing people. So, it's easier these days to spot the people I want to be around. On one of the first trips around the block I learned to compare people from Central Texas with those from West Texas. On another trip around the block I worked in education then in the corporate world. So, I was able to compare the kinds of people who worked in those two environments. I also did a little traveling in the state of Texas on one trip around the block. I compared people from different regions of the state. Not too long ago on a trip around the block, I was able to compare people in Canada with those from the US. In a very recent trip, I was around the people in another region of the country and so was able to compare those people to the people I have been around for a long time.

So what is the comparison verdict? If I stay with the comparative degree, then basically, all people fall in the same categories. They have very similar personalities, but still, some stand out over others for being deceptive or honest, friendly or unfriendly, personal or impersonal, coherent or ditzy, even flattering or hostile. With each trip around the block it became easier and easier to judge character and personality.

But what should happen if I move to the superlative degree? I know exactly who to single out as friends, those who are friendlier than just the run-of-the-mill friends, those who will help me the most in life. I have learned to recognize those who reciprocate with trust, forming an inner circle of friends or of business partners.

There is not another degree of comparison in English although some people have developed a way to show a superlative of superlative degree. It is not accepted by grammarians who like to judge such matters. Some people like to use most with a word that is superlative by definition (as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is my most favorite movie of all time). People make this comparison regularly. I would call this extra degree of comparison the suprarelative degree. I would know how to use it. Singling out someone or some event with someone as a pinnacle experience is not hard.

Having gone around a number of blocks, I absolutely know for whom and what I have reserved the suprarelative degree. I am forever grateful for such a pinnacle experience. It keeps me going since I mainly exist in a mere comparative degree world.

Finally the light splits the darkness

I'm feeling a little vindicated. Since the year 1998, I have had the perspective (and have passed it on over the last 12 years through presentations) that Shakespeare didn't write the Shakespearean body of plays. There are 37 of them, all world class plays. A number of candidates have been suggested, but the strongest three candidates are Edward DeVere, Christopher Marlowe, and Frances Bacon. A year and a half ago, I met a world renowned history scholar, Ross Dunn, a professor at San Diego State University. He and I had quite a few conversations, one of them centering on the possibility that Shakespeare didn't write the plays. He was quick to send me a book he had bought about the matter while he had been in England teaching one summer.

The matter has been around over 200 years, but has come to light in an irreversible manner over the last 20 years because of scholars getting involved. A dissertation has even been devoted to the subject.

So, imagine my great surprise and immediate feeling of vindication when I saw a commercial for a movie coming out this fall that began, "What if Shakespeare didn't write a single line of 37 plays he reportedly wrote." The commercial went on to show a few scenes of the movie that apparently takes the view that Edward DeVere wrote the plays. The commercial contained the lines, "All the world's a stage and we merely the players," and a few others, then ended with the words, "We've all been played."

Love it! Finally... and in a format the world will actually see and understand (not in a book, that is). You know where I will be on opening night in September. Loving every second.

Beautiful #3

I know a precious little princess who turns 3 years old today!!! Happy Birthday!!!

The world will be in good hands in the next generation when it gets handed over to her. She is already good-hearted. She loves people, is gentle, enjoys a good time, smiles everywhere she goes, and wears stylish sunglasses that her sheepish grin peeks out from under. She looks cuddly and inquisitive and makes you just want to hold her forever.

Of course, I would expect her to be just like her amazing mother who also has every trait mentioned above, including the sunglasses. Superb job!!!

Happy birthday my princess!!!

Champions

Ranch Road 1431 winds around across 2 counties. A lot of roads do that, but this one is a memorable one. I have a place in the middle of one county off of road 1431 and near the opposite end of the other county is a special camp. Coming across the two counties I pass three camps, The Retreat, nearest my place, Camp Peniel, and Camp Champion. Tonight as I passed the three camps only one took my thoughts to deeper thinking... Camp Champion!

I know a young man who is just about a year and a half from getting to go to the camp. I know he's excited to get there. I'm sure he'll return for a number of years once he starts. And I look forward to the time when he starts because I know what will happen to him once he goes. I know this because I know another product of Camp Champion. That person is of the noblest ilk, sits atop every endeavor attempted, rides head and shoulders above anyone I've known in the academic world, and amazes everyone as a parent.

The young man is already a champion at all he does, so I can only imagine what his future holds. I'm a betting man, and I'm putting my chips on this young man already! It's not much of a bet. The other person I know who is a product of the camp, I would bet on any day, any second of the day, any year... any time.

Back spin

The sports segment of the news tonight highlighted pro golf. One of the golfers shot a beautiful stroke. The ball hit the green about 3 feet from the pole. But, the best part of the shot was that the ball had back spin on it, so after it hit three feet from the hole, it spun backwards the 3 feet to fall in the cup. The golfer was ecstatic; he had hit an eagle.

Back spin represents beautiful execution. I know it can be misconstrued as back lash, but to me there is a huge difference. Spinning backwards can offer initial opportunity as in the golfer's case, or it can offer additional opportunity as happens a few times in life (because the general principle is that opportunity knocks but once). Back lash is ugly and happens as a result of something a person does not try to have happen. Back spin is something a person works to have happen, and it happens to one's advantage. It proves that one is at the top of his or her game.

Eagles don't happen much in golf or in life, nor does back spin so accurately executed. Calling it beautiful is an understatement. There may not be a word for it in English.

Perfect symmetry

I hadn't ever seen Good Will Hunting even though a number of friends told me I should watch it. Finally, I happened on to it on one of the movie channels earlier this week. So, I watched it. Yes, I should have taken everyone's advice who told me to watch it. It was good on several levels.

One feature I like about a movie or a book is for there to be some line or some episode referred to again in the end. In one of the scenes in the middle of the movie, Robin Williams, playing an esteemed psychologist, relates to Will that he married the one true love in his life. So he enjoyed his marriage to the very end. He was passionate about going places with her or compromising his own thoughts if making her happy would be the end result. When she fell sick before she died, it was not a chore for him to care for his one true love in life. He related that story because Will had earlier flippantly suggested to the psychologist (without knowing the story behind the psychologist's state of being single) that he was scared to marry again because he married the wrong woman. Thus, Robin Williams found the right moment to relate having met the woman of his dreams to Will. He had given up going to a historical baseball event just to be with this woman for their first date. And, he never regretted it. In fact, he would have regretted attending the baseball event and missing the meeting with the woman of his dreams.

At the end of the movie, Will had a job that would catapult him to fame and show his unique abilities as a world class mathematician. But through his therapy with Robin Williams, he had learned to care about people again (which he had lost the ability to do through a series of events). In particular, he wanted to go reclaim a relationship with a woman so that he would have no regrets. So, he left a note with Robin Williams to tell the person offering him a job that he had somewhere else to be, with the woman of his dreams that he was going to meet. Beautiful symmetry. In literary terms, it's the perfect way to highlight a major theme.

From my observation of married couples, I would have to say that precious few individuals find their one true love. So seeing it portrayed in a movie is moving. Seeing it highlighted as a theme by seeing such a unique passion for another human being pass from one individual to another is even more touching.

In reality, just a taste of it for a few precious moments in time would be life's single most treasured event. Living it would place one in the most enviable position in the whole world.

Friendship

My college roommate came by today for a short visit. He was passing through after spending time in the cool mountains of New Mexico. It's always good to visit with him. He represents someone who knew me back when... who has known me throughout the happenings of life as the years have passed. We get together periodically; it probably works out to be about once every 3 years. We have shared the ups and downs of both of our lives - with kids and spouses. In a number of ways we are alike. He's a bit more reserved than I am and much more informal. Whereas, I analyze language, he analyzes the human mind. So, we have a lot to say about speech communication. If I ever need a psychological lift, he's the go-t0 guy.

It's good to have life-long friends. They help you measure your success or failure in life. They have some history to compare your present status to, for showing growth in both character and philosophical viewpoint. I'm grateful for such a friend.

Reunion time

It's time to meet with my colleagues again. Once a year I get to have a reunion in Dallas with those who went through the trenches with me, languishing in classes analyzing language in all of its various environments. I look forward to such meetings. They usually last about 4 hours, and we compare notes on all the types of environments we have encountered with language over the last year. These are not the normal class reunions, but they are reunions of great value to me. Over the last 8 years, we've been able to meet 6 times. This one is particularly good since one is coming from Nigeria to be there. He should have some interesting stories. He already has contracted an illness and had to take medicine for that. But, he remains devoted to his work. Another is from the Dallas area, but he works with people connected to Ethiopa. And yet another is working in Mexico with an indigenous clan of people for whom he has developed a written language. He always has good stories of both culture and language. I anticipate these usually annual meetings greatly and learn more about language than I otherwise would.

Only one reunion would be sweeter than this one. And when I look up to the stars at night and say "I wish I may I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight," I renew that very special hope that is part of the fabric of my soul.

Mesmerize me

The beach is a mesmerizing place. It has all kinds of activities associated with it. You can take a ship to deeper water to fish for the big ones. You can ferry to particular spots to watch dolphins. You can find a boat to hook a parachute to and go parasailing. You can, of course, grab your surf board and catch the big wave back to the sand. Of course, there's always the crowd that sits on the beach to soak in radiation from the sun, those who wade into the ocean to enjoy the water rush against the skin and fill the nostrils with that ever invasive saline smell. You can comb the beach for shells, crabs, and sand dollars.

The waves that come onto the beach are the most mesmerizing art of the whole scene. They endlessly smash, roar, roil, glide, billow, and slide across the sand wave after wave after wave, ad infinitum. They cause a person to pause and think, stop and consider, dawdle and laugh, and wade and reflect. It's beautiful, rejuvenating, relaxing, comforting, and calming. Long live the beach!

Fudge

The outrage from the Casey Anthony verdict derives from the fact that people thought she was lying about the murder and that she waited too long to report the missing daughter to the police. On this second matter, I hope that there never is a law about time periods for reporting things to the police. That would mean I am living in a police state. That would be a travesty. Of course, we're close enough to one already that I refer to the US as a police state from time to time. On the first matter, I find myself loving the jury. Who among us doesn't lie?

I'm no better. I have 2 friends that I am completely transparent with. I know that lack of transparency is not the same as lying by most definitions, but for these 2 people it is for me. I was talking with one of the two the other day and I made the statement that my work was less than desirable after a certain event. Although that statement is true, it was not transparent enough because it was an understatement, and I didn't present it as such. I should have presented my outlook with the strength it deserved. My whole life has had a hole in it after that event. That's a whole lot different from saying my work wasn't enjoyable. I fudged the truth. Fortunately, I didn't have a jury sitting in, watching what I was doing, deeming me guilty or not. But I know that I didn't tell the truth, that is, I know I was not transparent.

Filtering thought is what we do best to preserve our images. But, I have 2 people that know my true, unfiltered image. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to "unfudge" the truth.

#1 invention

According to a radio report last week, 50 engineers were sent a list of inventions recently. They were to rank the top 25 inventions of all time. Of the top 5, the personal computer was 5th. I couldn't believe it. I thought that was the driving force behind everything modern. More surprising was the radio, which came in third. But, after thinking about it, I can see that that allowed the world to start its march toward globalization.

The number one invention of all time was the smart phone. Really no surprise there. It allows one to control everything in her/his environment if (s)he wants to. For example, I have an app that controls the thermostat, the alarm system, the door locks to the house, a light, motion sensors, and a camera inside the house. In fact, I set the temperature of my house just the other day from my phone. Love it. The smart phone also contains a movie camera. I love these. A person can send and receive videos of people that are important and special to him/her. My daughter and I exchange still pictures through text occasionally and keep each other updated that way instead of through words. But, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is that to the tenth power. They're the most special of all the features to me. They record the precious moments of precious people in our lives, including the sounds that bring a smile to the lips. Love them!!! The smart phone is a great choice for the number one invention of all time.