“English-Prime” or “E-Prime” was developed to address “known issues” in the English language. This ‘revolt’ against the English language was brought to my attention by a piece written by one Robert Anton Wilson called, “Quantum Psychology.” He writes:
Clearly, written in Standard English, “The photon is a wave,” and “The photon is a particle” contradict each other, just like the sentences “Robin is a boy” and “Robin is a girl.” Nonetheless, all through the nineteenth century physicists found themselves debating about this and, by the early 1920s, it became obvious that the experimental evidence depended on the instruments or the instrumental set-up (design) of the total experiment. One type of experiment always showed light traveling in waves, and another type always showed light traveling as discrete particles.
This contradiction created considerable consternation. As noted earlier, some quantum theorists joked about “wavicles.” Others proclaimed in despair that “the universe is not rational” (by which they meant to indicate that the universe does not follow Aristotelian logic.) Still others looked hopefully for the definitive experiment (not yet attained in 1990) which would clearly prove whether photons “are” waves or particles.
So now let’s turn all this Black: what Robert Anton Wilson will not volunteer or even agree with is that “Robin is a boy” and “Robin is a girl” are imperial edicts. The “isness” is declared by the emperor—so shut the fuck up.
An imperial language is used to carry messages down the hierarchy. An imperial language is designed for officers and soldiers—each to specify and carry out orders, respectively. English is an imperial language among many imperial languages. And now let’s change from Black to African: the first imperial languages came from Africans. We must never forget about “his Imperial Majesty”—and J’ah is that which came before—J’ah is I light and I salvation. J’ah no dead! J’ah no dead! Inquire in his temple—inquire at his mouth. See Daniel and the mouths of beasts—and learn from the model of his example…
English is not “evil”—it is designed for a purpose. You know you are not in charge when you don’t even care about this purpose—or even purpose itself. You know you are a slave when, you know, like whatever…
So you may visit kintespace.com because you call yourself an “artist” or a “poet.” This implies that you need to know about why E-Prime was developed because you are supposed to be interested in systems of expression—unless you intend to be Dada forever—but even then there is system to being non-systematic and, you know, like whatever…
Especially the poet—the English-writing poet should know her language of choice intimately. These are some of the basic findings during my life as a poet (in order of increasing maturity):
So, in the very least, E-Prime is designed to prevent people from speaking in the passive voice. The next goal of E-Prime is to change people into people who are very focused and articulate. The scientists who advocate this think this is great—but some of the officers and regents who pay them know you can’t rule and control a mass of focused, articulate activists. So, dude, you know, like whatever… “Smells like teen spirit…”
This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 10:11 am and is filed under kinté space news, root. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.