KITCHEN TABLE RHETORIC: The Semantics of Conformity IMAGE: A pyramid with an illumination point at the center refracted in multiple ways with textual fragments and flames. Tim: Nothing destroys creativity & learning more than this 3-letter word: but . . . Melissa: Huh? But is one the most important words in our language. It points out when connections don't hold. Satoru: Does anybody get the feeling this is a weird conversation? Liao: Of course it is. How else could it be interesting? "But" is like a knife & "and" is like a spoon. Satoru: In that case, what is a fork? Liao: Open your mouth – find out . . . ===================================================================================== from _Crassroom Voices - Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Education_ by T Newfields SUMMARY: Some thoughts about semantics, pragmatics, irony, and social interactions. KEYWORDS: rhetorical irony, pragmatic failure, discourse incompetence, interactional expectations Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955) Begun: 2009 in Tokyo, Japan / Finished: 2019 in Yokohama, Japan Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted < LAST https://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/where.htm TOC https://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/index.html NEXT > https://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/hardrthetoric.htm