taxonomy

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William Hupy
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taxonomy

Postby William Hupy » Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:02 pm

I like how this word comes from the Greek word "taxis", which is not the yellow kind seen in New York. It means arrangement. The suffix has been lifted from Greek so often it bears mentioning only one more time:method. Maybe more.
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Perry Lassiter
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:27 pm

Ala McCluhan, taxonomy can be the message. Consider the new addition of college course and consequent fields of study by smashing together two fields into one, such as bio-tech et al. Sometimes how we arrange things makes all the difference. Just yesterday I read a wonderful quote to the effect that we often build our own "families" from friends, a fact I noted years ago.

On a more trivial level, how do you sort things. For example, in giving directions, do you suggest going six blocks and turn left, or go through three traffice lights, or go til you come to the Exxon station...? Maddening is small town directions from old-timers: go down to the old Smith house, then turn on the old Podunk road toward the McIntosh Plantation. All the directions would have been fine to a resident fifty years ago, but the Smith house has been through three residents since then, Podunk is now a rusting filling station, and the plantation is now forest. What taxonomy is in your wallet, er...mind?
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Slava
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Slava » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:46 pm

There actually is a Podunk in NY. I keep meaning to take a trip down there, just so I can I've been in Podunk.

A friend of mine worked in Afghanistan a while back. Part of her mailing address was "west of X park, next to Marie Stopes clinic."
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call_copse
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Re: taxonomy

Postby call_copse » Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:37 am

I think it may be worth covering the related portmanteau 'folksonomy', perhaps a little forced, but in my mind a worthwhile neologism.
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Re: taxonomy

Postby William Hupy » Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:01 am

Perry, I read some place that women tend to give directions by mentioning places, whereas men will give cardinal points and distance. For instance, a woman will say "turn left at Burger King" Men will say: go one mile north and then turn west.
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Philip Hudson
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Philip Hudson » Sun Sep 14, 2014 2:47 am

I have never heard directions given in England that used points of a compass. They say such things as, "Go to the bottom of the road and take the third exit from the roundabout." That's Greek to me. My wife is totally disoriented, in the literal sense. I rarely find myself in a place where I don't know north from south.

Taxonomies are very useful, as in Linnaean Taxonomy. Educators talk about Blooms Taxonomy. Neither they nor I have any idea what they are talking about. Par for educators.
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call_copse
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Re: taxonomy

Postby call_copse » Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:59 am

Topographical thinking versus orienteer orientation? I don't know about the US but over here pretty much everyone I know would now just kindly request your postcode, ignoring any turn left after 3 miles type stuff - it makes life much easier to just use your car GPS or smartphone directions. This does result in people who have no clue how to get home from where they have just been unaided but - the rough with the smooth etc.
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:21 pm

Yes, we have the wonderful GPS system. I was an engineer designing the first GPS receivers, the thing you now have on Garmin or on your smart phone. Our first GPS receiver filled a long bed pickup-truck. The monitor was hand held and gave only a readout for latitude, longitude, and altitude. I never worked on production models, being always the pioneer. Our first production model was about the size of a breadbox and had an antennae the size of a dinner plate. It had no map of the earth in it.

After that, I worked about five years on GPS reception and display, including world wide maps of great precision and several functions that I am not at liberty to disscuss. One thing I can reveal is, if there is a USA military reason, your GPS reception will be immediately cut off. Then you will be grateful to get an answer from a local that the Pub is at the bottom of the road. Except, if you are an American, you don't usually know a road has that kind of bottom.

Thanks for letting me toot my own horn. "He who tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted." Many people trace the origin of the idiom to Shakespeare. Please do not insult the Bard by believing it. I think it is from John Webster's "The White Devil", although I have never read or seen the ancient play. This is not the dictionary Webster, although I wouldn't put it past him.
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Slava » Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:47 pm

T'would appear that "he who tooteth..." cometh from all points, including scripture. "Guys and Dolls" seems to be the most common source, though.
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:39 pm

Yeah, I saw the "Guys and Dolls" reference. It is very much a late comer. I was lisping this idiom whist I mewed and puked in my crib. [Now that is from Shakespeare!]. The idiom long predates "Guys and Dolls". I was kicking the slats out of that self same crib when jokes that now try to pass as current were chanted above me by my elders.

The latest Aggie joke is probably a rehash of an old one. For the non-Texan, Aggie, means a Texas A & M University student. It is our state institution that all Aggies are sworn to blindly love and all non-Aggies are sworn to loathe. Aggie jokes are sort of like Turkish jokes in Greece or Polish jokes almost everywhere.

It seems that Bubba was the best defensive lineman the Aggies had ever had. He scraped through scholastically until the spring of his Junior year. He was about to fail, be put on scho-pro, and thus be deprived of the honor of being defensive lineman for his senior year. Because of the extreme importance of American football in the Hinterlands, the school was in mourning. Finally the Dean decided he would ask Bubba one question and if he knew the answer he would pass all his courses. This event was of such moment that the entire student body gathered in Kyle Field Stadium (Google it and weep) to witness the test. The Dean posed a simple question to Bubba from a podium in the middle of the playing filed: "Bubba, what is seven times seven?" A collective groan rose from the stands. Bubba cogitated a spell and answered in an uncertain voice, "Forty nine...?" The hushed crowd suddenly rose to its feet and shouted as if with one voice, "Give him another chance!"
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Slava
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Re: taxonomy

Postby Slava » Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:17 pm

Gee willikers, I thought that chestnut was a blonde joke.

As to "cogitated a spell", I guess I've spent too much time with J.K. Rowling, as I at first took it to be, "thought up a spell". :D
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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