Quote of the Day

[fathomlessspite]

So I'm frantically trying to finish an essay, and I am now within 100 words of the word limit, which should be cause for celebration, except I haven't even got to the critique yet, which should ideally comprise at least half, if not more of the essay *sigh*

I have consequently paused in my despair to provide a quote of the day, because sometimes amongst the dredge of incomprehensible nonsense I read for uni there's a line or two which is brilliant :)

"Free will is apples and determinism is oranges" (Wegner, 'The Precis of The Illusion of conscious will', 2004:9)

Comments

[wickednotevil.livejournal.com]

Good look with the essay :)
...The more I look at that quote the more it makes the grammar centres in my brain feel funny. It's like anti-sense or something

[fathomlessspite]

Thank you!
I know, it doesnt look quite right does it! I want to stick in a comma or something, but where? or maybe the word like, so its similes instead of metaphors.
I think its because its 'free will is apples' rather than 'an apple', like you've got two singular things comparing with two plural things? ooo i feel like i'm back in my a level english classes helping my tutor mark peoples coursework...

[wickednotevil.livejournal.com]

I kept thinking '*are* oranges' for no good reason. But once the thought got in my head it stuck there and made it seem more wrong ever time I thought it through.
...I only made it through English because I did Lit, where grammar didn't matter so long as you could take apart a novel and put it back together to mean what you wanted it to in an hour. And if there's one thing A-Level History makes you good at it's making arguments for your point. That and how to write too much *g*

[fathomlessspite]

Oh I took Lit and Lang, it wasnt too bad, back then i was good with grammar and stuff, even better at spotting it in other peoples work, i used to look through peoples coursework for them *sigh* why i did this i do not know...
I couldnt take the Lit exams though, I'd get bored halfway through and give up, sleep on my desk, they were like 3 hours long! Its cruel! so I usually ended up with full marks in coursework and just scraped passes in exams...

A-Level History? I ran from History as soon as I could, switched it for Sociology, I dont think I revised at all for any of that, just bs'd my way through it and got A grades in every module... if only uni worked that way...