sábado, 31 de octubre de 2015

Double trouble or treble trouble....?

(This unit is dedicated to the late Fº S. B. an inspiration to those trying to master the English language)Some former students´initials coincide with the distinguished gentleman´s ....

I am bound to admit that English is

 EASY, FUN(When it´s sung), IMPORTANT,GREAT, CRUCIAL,EXCITING,SURPRISING, AMAZING, FASCINATING, FRUSTRATING,....

AN ADVENTURE, COMMUNICATION, RESEARCH, CULTURE, DRAMA,ACTION, WISDOM, SHAKESPEARE, AMERICAN SLANG,PLAY,FICTION, NON-FICTION, COMEDY, PROSE, A TOOL, A VEHICLE, A LINGUA FRANCA WORLDWIDE, POETRY,THE HOST, THE MILK, EVOLUTION,NOT JUST A SUBJECT, GROWTH, YOUR ATTITUDE TO PEOPLE,TO OBJECTS, TO IDEAS,YOUR RELIGION, YOUR LIFE, EVERYTHING......


Let´s quote Francisco Sánchez Benedito: a term is polysemous when it has two or more meanings.; i.e. PLANE, SPRING, SHARP,etc..

See if you can find different meanings in the following words by using them in suitable contexts:

pitch

ball

top

kite

mole

pike

rook

seal

shark

pretty

skate

light

pin

swift

thrush

pool

oil

odds

slide

bland

chips

foot

pump

pet

tin

point

track

cut

play

run

go

break

hand

plain

plane

beat

lead

bow

row

wind

bob

left

port

close.
                                                                       

jueves, 1 de octubre de 2015

AGAINST black & white THINKING....

We are sons and daughters of structuralism, which has seen life as a series of two mutually exclusive, opposed or contradictory groups. This binary opposition acknowledges the human tendency to think in terms of oppositions. Religions foster this categorization and simplistic view of reality, associated with something positive or negative. Typically RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS will state: "If you are not for me, you are against me"; when in fact, you can be indifferent to both attitudes.

J. Derrida argued that these oppositions were arbitrary and inherently unstable. Deconstruction rejects most of the assumptions of structuralism and especially "binary opposition".


YOUR TASK will be to find an alternative way out of these over forty false dilemmas which binary contrasts create AND ARE PART OF OUR OWN  deeply-rooted CULTURAL HERITAGE:



MOORS- CHRISTIANS

RIGHT- LEFT

RIGHT- WRONG

THOUGHT- ACTION

REASON- PASSION

SPEECH- WRITING

BELIEVER- ATHEIST

THEORY- PRACTICE

 CLASSIC- ROMANTIC

MALE CHAUVINIST- FEMINIST

MALE- FEMALE

 BODY- SOUL

 PACIFIST- BELLICOSE

INSIDE- OUTSIDE

PRESENCE- ABSENCE

MARRIED- SINGLE

EASTERN- WESTERN

INDEPENDENT- CENTRALLY DOMINATED

IRRIGATED COASTAL LANDS- DRY HINTERLANDS

LIFE - DEATH

 SKY- EARTH 

 ABOVE- BELOW

 SOUTH - NORTH

FIRE- DAMP 

 DAY- NIGHT

SPRING- WINTER 

 SUN- MOON 

BLACK- WHITE 

LIGHT- DARKNESS 

 NEAR- FAR

HOME- FOREST

 YOUTH- AGE

SACRED- PROFANE

PAGAN- CHRISTIAN

NATURAL FOOD- COOKED FOOD

PHYSICS- METAPHYSICS

MONARCHY- REPUBLIC

FREEDOM- SLAVERY

ATTACHMENT- REPULSION

LOVE- HATRED

MYTH - REALITY

FORM - CONTENT