Category Archives: language

more word pairs

[previous post] rifle vs riffle (a matter of degree or urgency) crevasse vs crevice (a matter of size) vocation vs avocation (a matter of wages, often) prize vs pry (I think just a matter of British vs. Am. English) career vs … Continue reading

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the undefinable

As John Newman said with respect of definitions of communication: “The diversity and complexity of communication is such that a generally accepted definition becomes so profoundly involved that it hinders rather than helps further thought on the subject.” He proposes … Continue reading

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a word for everything

isovist: the volume of space visible from a given point (part of “space syntax“)

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the city

The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel or an ant-heap. But it is also a conscious work of art, and it holds within its communal framework many simpler and more personal forms of … Continue reading

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text, topic, trouble

full text search = searching a collection of documents, such as websites or online journal articles, based on the words that appear in the documents (as opposed to searching based on categories or subjects assigned to the documents) The problems … Continue reading

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