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I'm interested in Part vs Whole effects and emergent phenomena: how poetry can be made from mundane parts; how a sad story can be created from comic episodes. There often isn't a simple one-way journey from the parts to the whole - understanding the whole makes you re-process the parts in context. The issue is mentioned in Metaphor and Figure-Ground Relationship: Comparisons from Poetry, Music, and the Visual Arts by Reuven Tsur - " Figure-ground relationship is a very important notion of gestalt theory. Theorists of the psychology of music and the visual arts made most significant use of it. The significance of this notion in literary theory is rather limited. ... I will consider three literary texts that exploit this readiness of human perceivers to switch back and forth between figure and ground. All three texts achieve their effect by inducing readers to reverse figure-ground relationships relative to their habitual modes of thought or perception " The effects a...

Hello and welcome to another round of The Bad Quiz! Following Round One , it's time once again to see if everyone's been paying attention. Not too many questions to deal with, but they're a nice mix of things we've covered since the last time, plus a few new things, just to keep you all on your toes. I can't promise this won't be a total cake-walk for some of you, but if it at least raises a smile, then that's enough for me. So, enough with the preamble, and on with the show! Vocabulary: Pick the right word (1-2), fill-in the correct answer (3) 1) The pyramids in Egypt are a) monuments, b) statues, c) alien spaceships. 2) Adam Mickiewicz in Kraków rynek is a a) menorah, b) memorial, c) statue. 3) Beethoven was a ______. Renoir was an ______.   Nabokov was an ______. Wit Stwosz was a ______.   Katarzyna Kozyra is a/an ______. 4) Right or wrong: In this question, we’re comparing e.g. and i.e. a) More precise equipment, e.g. a Lego microscope adjusted...

Welcome to the end of another week, or the start of a new one if you're one of those weirdos who considers Sundays the 'start' of the week. ;)   This was the first week of our new posting schedule - once on Wednesdays and the review on Sundays, as usual. However, the surprise element has been our FaceBook page , which has allowed me to quickly frame my thoughts and post any interesting issues as they've come up. It also allows you other FaceBook peeps to quickly reply to these brain burps. Apart from a few funny, translating-related pictures and so on, let’s look back at some of the highlights of the past week.   On Monday the 30 th , we looked at how to collocate ‘professional’. A line from an advertising text for a catering firm that I was working on read: "Nice and professional service, competitive prices."   This is an odd collocation, nice + professional . It sounds sort of contradictory, and many people do indeed believe that being professional mean...

Mr Ooi Boon Ewe, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Mr Tan Kin Lian, Mr Geoarge Yeo. The line-up is not quite set. Mr Ooi and Dr Tan have collected the application form. Mr Tan Kin Lian's friend has collected his application form for him although it appears that Mr Tan is undecided due to concerns that his wife has about him running for President. (Maybe, he should remind her that she might get to have her photograph hung on the wall of every government office/building. :-) ) George Yeo is mulling over contesting. Mr Ooi would almost certainly be rejected as not qualifying under the stringent requirements set for the candidacy as President. Dr Tan, Mr Tan and Mr George Yeo may be the only serious contenders if all of them throw in their applications. So far, the only thing that seems certain is that Dr Tan will be submitting his application. Where is the PAP-'approved' candidate? This is surely what all of us are wondering. It shouldn't be the case that we are expecting an offi...

The following article appeared in Channelnewsasia today: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1132707/1/.html It appears that the SPP has alleged that the newly elected PAP MP for Potong Pasir had promised to retain the services of all 16 employees of the Potong Pasir Town Council. It appears that only 3 employees were retained at Potong Pasir TC and the remaining staff have been served with termination notices with an offer of re-employment with EM Services. EM Services is the newly appointed managing agent of the Potong Pasir Town Council. I find the following aspect of the news report disturbing: When contacted on Wednesday, Mr Sitoh refuted SPP's claims. "At that time, I didn't know the inside workings of the town council and how many staff there were, so my exact words to her, "Since you asked, I'll try my best to see what I can do"," he said. "And I think I've kept to my word: I negotiated with EM Services and ...

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a close personal friend of mine, Already. I’ve known him already for nearly forty years, ever since we met in school, and already by the 1990s we already knew each other well enough to be already like brothers already.   Enough already? Great, let’s begin! The problem with our friend already is three-fold:    1) He’s being put in the wrong place – after the verb, which makes the verb feel silly and look awkward in front of the other words (2a,4a,5a,6a), 2) He’s being shoved out on stage when really, he isn’t even in the scene at all (1a,3a), 3) He’s being used with existing to make already existing , which is pointless repetition (think ‘terminal death’, ‘sad funeral’, or maybe ‘true love’) (7a,8a).   Already with the examples! 1a. Already in the 1980s, attempts were made to reduce the current immediately prior to breaking the metallic short-circuit... 1b. As early as the 1980s, attempts were made to reduce the current imm...

Just as I thought that the muddle over conflict of interest was beginning to clear up a little because of the clarification from MND and from Madam Halimah, I have come across news (rather belatedly noticed by me) that Potong Pasir Town Council has appointed EM Services as the Managing Agent. On 21st May 2011, it was still being reported that the newly elected PAP MP Mr Sitoh Yi Pin was hoping to take over the management of the Town Council by the end of the month. It has been reported on 27th May that the Town Council has appointed EM Services. The following is from an article appearing on Channelnewsasia on 27 May 2011: Potong Pasir Town Council staff to be offered jobs by EM Services SINGAPORE: The Potong Pasir Town Council has engaged EM Services to be its managing agent. Town council Chairman and MP for the area, Sitoh Yih Pin, said there are currently 16 staff in the town council under its previous Chairman, Mr Chiam See Tong. And EM Services has accepted Mr Sitoh’s request to ...