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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Those who move to the land - a different POV in a different "...
  • Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 11:44:32 EST


> >The expression "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" is, I think
> quite widespread ? If you are not familiar with it, it is fairly intuitive
> to most people that it basically means "words only mean what we all agree
> that they mean".

Not quite the meaning, I'd say, and the difference pertains to the discussion.

"A rose by any other name" refers to a single objectively defined object, a
rose, and states that it would be the same no matter what you called it.

In the topic at hand, 'what is the definition of homesteader', it is just the
opposite. It is the word that stays the same but what it refers to changes
from person to person.

In the first case, the object stays the same but different words are used to
describe it. In the second case the word stays the same but describes
different objects.

An example of the first, the 'rose by any other name' phenomenon, which some
on the list might remember, is that 50 years ago bell peppers were not common
food. When they were introduced they were called "mangos". Soon people
realized that a bell pepper and a chili pepper were of the same genera and so
they
were viewed as a different type of pepper ... sweet pepper or bell pepper.
One object, a pepper, but two words used to desctibe it.

An example of the second is what happened just after the second world war
when the US offered Britain economic relief in the form of grain commodities,
Britain asked for a huge amount of 'corn' and was dismayed when it received
'maize' instead. The Americans were using 'corn' to mean 'zea maiz' and
the
British were using it to mean 'wheat'. One word refering to two different
objects.

If you are in the habit of reading the laws and regulations that affect your
life, you are familiar with the section of any legislation devoted to
definitions. When a regulation concerning trucks is witten, there will be
"for the
purpose of this regulation, a truck is defined as a motor vehicle of at least
(blah, blah)..." Otherwise the regulation is chaotic.

What Gene has done in the section he has cited is not 'a rose is a rose'. He
is not describing a single phenomenon and explaining the various works used
to describe it, rather he dealing with the one word 'homestead' and how it
has
a tendency to be used to described several phenomena. People throw the word
'homestead' about as if it means vaguely someone who lives in the country.
Gene coins the phrase 'those who move back to the land' to serve this
purpose
and reserves the word 'homestead' for a more specific meaning.

This is also what many of us do in the discussions on this list. We are
using the word 'homestead' in some specific way. When you read the text of
some
legislation or regulation and in the definition section it touches on
something that pertains to you, do you feel diminshed or abused by it? If
you read,
'for the purpose of this legislation, 'pet owner' will be defined as any
person
who (blah, blah)', do you go about the rest of the day offended mutting to
yourself "can't tell me what a pet owner is! Just because I don't fit that
defintion, you can't say I'm not a pet owner!!"

Well that's how petty and ridiculous it is when there is a discussion of
homestead topics and someone says, in effect, for the purpose of these
discussions
my defintion of 'homesteader is ....', and someone retorts "You can't tell
someone they aren't a homesteader! Just because they don't fit your
defintion,
you can't say they aren't homesteading!"

Yes I can. It is a legitimate function of language and communication to
define the terms you are using.

It reminds me so much of the Wizard of Id comic where in a single panel it
shows Sir Rodney kneeling before a roadsing and offering up his sword. The
sign
says "Yield".

'Someone who vaguely wanders off into the country for whatever reason' is too
watery a defintion of 'homesteader' to be of any practical value in a useful
discussion. Then it is supposed to expand to "someone who talks about
wanting
to wander off into the country for whatever reason".

I've been on many gardening, self-sufficiency, homesteading, and frugality
lists and when there's time visit blogs on those topics. Invariably the
discussions attract wannabes like flies and just as invariably some of
wannabes
continually want to elevate themselves by pointing out (or imagining) feet of
clay
among the actual practitioners. "Ha! You say you are frugal but you just
admitted to sharpening a knife! If you were REALLY as frugal as you claim,
you'd
find a piece of flint and knap it into a knife instead of using a knife that
cost a whole $3!" They themselves would cut off their thumb if they tried to
use a knife, flint or otherwise, but somehow hope that it puts them in the
same category with the frugal if they find some exagerated and or imagined
flaw
in the everyday practitioner.

Part and parcel of good communication is to define the terms you use anywhere
they might be taken to mean something other than what you intend. Everyone
doesn't have to use the exact same defintion, but we must needs establish
what
definition we are using.


James





  • Re: [Homestead] Those who move to the land - a different POV in a different "..., Clansgian, 02/04/2009

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