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SweetFreedom Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Towards a-teapotisin?
1) Does "there is positively no orbiting teapot" mean "there is definitely no teapot that orbits around the Earth"?
2) Does "towards a-teapotisin" mean "towards anti-teapotisin"
Background info:
We would not waste time saying so because nobody, so far as I
know, worships teapots;* but, if pressed, we would not hesitate to
declare our strong belief that there is positively no orbiting teapot.
Yet strictly we should all be teapot agnostics: we cannot prove, for
sure, that there is no celestial teapot. In practice, we move away
from teapot agnosticism towards a-teapotisin.
A friend, who was brought up a Jew and still observes the
sabbath and other Jewish customs out of loyalty to his heritage,
describes himself as a 'tooth fairy agnostic'. He regards God as no
more probable than the tooth fairy. You can't disprove either
hypothesis, and both are equally improbable. He is an a-theist to
exactly the same large extent that he is an a-fairyist. And agnostic
about both, to the same small extent.
2) Does "towards a-teapotisin" mean "towards anti-teapotisin"
Background info:
We would not waste time saying so because nobody, so far as I
know, worships teapots;* but, if pressed, we would not hesitate to
declare our strong belief that there is positively no orbiting teapot.
Yet strictly we should all be teapot agnostics: we cannot prove, for
sure, that there is no celestial teapot. In practice, we move away
from teapot agnosticism towards a-teapotisin.
A friend, who was brought up a Jew and still observes the
sabbath and other Jewish customs out of loyalty to his heritage,
describes himself as a 'tooth fairy agnostic'. He regards God as no
more probable than the tooth fairy. You can't disprove either
hypothesis, and both are equally improbable. He is an a-theist to
exactly the same large extent that he is an a-fairyist. And agnostic
about both, to the same small extent.
Top answer
1. Yes. 2.
- 1.
- Yes.
- 2.
- No.
- Towards 'there is not a teapot'.
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4 Answers
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1. Yes.
2. No. Towards 'there is not a teapot'.
Similarly, atheism means there is not a ***
Clive
2. No. Towards 'there is not a teapot'.
Similarly, atheism means there is not a ***
Clive
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I believe there is a typo in #2. It should be a-teapotism.
Etymologically, the prefix a- means not or without.
The prefix anti-, on the other hand, means opposed to, against, or in place of.
Etymologically, the prefix a- means not or without.
The prefix anti-, on the other hand, means opposed to, against, or in place of.
00
Is this a quote from Stephen Fry?
Edited to add -- the teapot part was Stephen Fry quoting Bertand Russell.
Edited to add -- the teapot part was Stephen Fry quoting Bertand Russell.
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SweetFreedom2) Does "towards a-teapotisin" mean "towards anti-teapotisin"He probably meant teapot-ism.
-ism is a suffix with many meanings; "belief in" is one of them.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-ism?r=66
- racism
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