[UA] OT: Thought and Language

[Patrick O'Duffy]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robin Pfeifer" <robinpfeifer at web.de>
To: "Unknown Armies Mailinglist" <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>


> But can you actually stop putting the thoughts into word form?

I mean I don't _ever_ put the thoughts into words, unless it's by deliberate
effort. I think _about_ words when I'm writing; I construct the sentences
mentally and then write them down. When I tried to think in words as an
experiment, I found that the sentence _always_ came after the thought,
rather than simultaneously; I was aware of the thought being completed and
comprehended before the words 'reverberated' inside my head.

 When I
> formulate a thought in my head I am usually fully aware that I had the
idea
> in image or associative form before that, but it gets real only when put
> into words.

Writing aside, thinking in words felt utterly false to me; an unneccesary
and redundant to the near-instantaneous process of constructing and
comprehending my thoughts.

(And even when writing, I only think in words when I get to the grunt stage
of sticking words onto paper/screen. All the plots, characters, themes and
whatnot are developed in this non-verbal form of thinking.)

Anyone else think like this?

--
Patrick O'Duffy, Brisbane, Australia

My own assistants have tried to kill me, but, like Rasputin, I notice not
the poison and laugh at their icepicks. Shoot me in the lungs and I'll snarl
and spit nicotine tar at you from the bulletholes.

- Spider Jerusalem, TRANSMETROPOLITAN #39




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