Editing 1860: Communicating
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''There's glory for you.'' | ''There's glory for you.'' | ||
β | In Lewis Carroll's "{{w|Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There}}", {{w|Alice_(Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland)|Alice}} meets {{w|Humpty Dumpty}} (the egg-shaped character from the children's verse). Humpty Dumpty is a Looking Glass creature, and the Looking Glass creatures all feature some form of inversion. For Humpty Dumpty the inversion is in meanings. | + | In Lewis Carroll's "{{w|Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There}}", {{w|Alice_(Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland)|Alice}} meets {{w|Humpty Dumpty}} (the egg-shaped character from the children's verse). Humpty Dumpty is a Looking Glass creature, and the Looking Glass creatures all feature some form of inversion. For Humpty Dumpty the inversion is in meanings. He berates Alice for having a name that doesn't mean anything (contrasted with his name which means his shape). |
β | But | + | But Humpty declares to Alice "There's glory for you". Alice doesn't understand what Humpty means by "glory". Humpty explains that he can make words mean whatever he chooses to mean. By "glory" he meant "a nice knock-down argument". And he adds: "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean. Neither more nor less." ([https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass,_and_What_Alice_Found_There/Chapter_VI#124]) |
In the comic Humpty is explaining to "Alice" (portrayed by [[Jill]]) that he can choose meanings for his words. Alice points out the obvious problem by pretending to wonder what meaning should be given to that utterance, and decides it means "Please take all my belongings". Humpty realizes he has been caught in a trap, but now Alice is choosing meanings, and even his protests are taken to mean "take my car along with my belongings". | In the comic Humpty is explaining to "Alice" (portrayed by [[Jill]]) that he can choose meanings for his words. Alice points out the obvious problem by pretending to wonder what meaning should be given to that utterance, and decides it means "Please take all my belongings". Humpty realizes he has been caught in a trap, but now Alice is choosing meanings, and even his protests are taken to mean "take my car along with my belongings". |