Verbatim quote · from the corpus

“The previous paragraph serves as a reminder that the Natural Semantic Primes can never be far from our minds when designing idioms. For originary hypothesizing, or center study, they simply replace philosophy, providing the originary meaning of the words out of which all other meanings can be produced. We can use the boundaries between the words as sources of idioms—when do we “think” and when do we “know,” when is someone “doing” something and when is something “happening,” how does “feeling” accompany “moving,” when have two things shifted from being “like” each other to being the “same,” etc.? We could construct numerous sequences, say, from “see” to “want,” to “think,” to “say,” to “do” and to “have.” Overlaid on such boundaries and sequences are the entire vocabulary of any language, and you have an extremely effective way of cutting through MOL and then reconstructing it satirically or with a specific direction of inquiry. This work is equivalent to stacking and then decomposing and then restacking scenes. It’s a collection of very powerful lenses, telescopes, microscopes, funhouse mirrors, to bring to bear on any sample of language. The primes measure boundaries and thresholds, the source of all thinking—and, let’s think about thinking as follows: you say “I think” when you don’t know, which means that thinking is the interval between hearing or seeing and knowing and this is an interval that can be prolonged indefinitely.”

— Adam Katz, Imperatives for Idiom Creation · Nov 13, 2023 · Bouvard Substack