But I did have to add an update to Monday's post, "Isolated Transient Alexia — a migrainous accompaniment — ever had it?":
The various doctors would not simply accept my opinion that this was an isolated transient alexia — a migrainous accompaniment. They had to see it as a possible TIA. Not only were various tests ordered up, but even the best results don't eliminate the possibility that it was a TIA and so the cautious approach is to assume that it was.
Posts
44 comments:
Back when I was working (16 years ago) "tests" would have meant an angiogram of some flavor.
14 years ago. I suppose failure at simple arithmetic calls for a test.
“No, I didn't have another incident, though I did run into another sentence that powerfully resisted reading. From Reddit:”
That’s another good example of what’s called a “garden path” sentence, as I mentioned in the previous post. I love those! Not a sign of dementia (I hope). But if there’s any doubt, it makes sense to be cautious.
I think that's just a fucked up sentence.
My mother the diabetic had some of those but usually they caused some stroke-like physical symptoms also.
Or maybe the doctors just threw some jargon at it.
It was hurting my brain trying to read that damn thing.
From the comments...
I can't believe I actually understood that title.
Edit for clarity: Dog found photo in basement. Subject of photo is the GF of someone who formerly lived in OP's house.
ah!
Moriarty, you magnificent bastard.
so, the DOG has (had?) a girlfriend?
Isolated transient Alexia sounds like your Google assistant wandering off by herself.
“Edit for clarity: Dog found photo in basement. Subject of photo is the GF of someone who formerly lived in OP's house.”
Boooring.
“ so, the DOG has (had?) a girlfriend?”
The house had a girlfriend.
"gilbar said...
so, the DOG has (had?) a girlfriend?"
Nope. House had a girlfriend. Guy lived in houses's(large)girlfriend, dog found photo of (trans) guy
What's the German for "the guy who used to live in my house"?
“The house had a girlfriend.”
And the guy who used to live in her got too big and had to move out.
no, the guy(who used to live in my house)’s girlfriend
I think that mistakes are being made in sentence structure more frequently than before. I blame AI. AI is not rational, ever. It is statistical. It predicts. And it doesn't notice contradictions inside metaphors. And we are becoming accustomed to a kind of AI "feel" to essays and opinions which are done by AI but not acknowledged as by AI. They feel unpredictable to our reason because they aren't working from principles but they feel predictable to our memory, our sense of cliches in current use. And when we read, we work out the meaning of a sentence by assigning a connected meaning to all the words. Yet we can't know what meaning to assign to the words until we have read them while all knowing what they mean. That's why people can miss sarcasm, not understand jokes, So when we are reading now we are trying to work out whether this is a person reasoning or an AI predicting. At least, that is how I reach an understanding of current writing. It's a relief to get into an old-time book.
But maybe I'm overthinking the whole thing and you were just tired in a way that older people get tired. Or maybe you were reacting to physical pressure of some kind the way older people react.
that should read: 'my dog found a photo in my basement of the guy who used to live in my girlfriend's house'.
My general approach to hiring medical consultants is to ask around for THE OLDEST APPROPRIATE SPECIALIST in your vacinity who still is highly regarded by his or her patients. {Can you figure out how to speak with the most elderly neurology unit nursing supervisor -- who maybe retired last year?}
You probably already have seen a younger medical specialist. Fine. Now consider balancing that evaluation with one done by a doc who has worked with MANY THOUSANDS of patients. If their reasoned comments conflict, then consider speaking with an additional elderly specialist. Experience counts.
I like it the way it is. And it’s perfectly correct grammatically and semantically. It’s a bit challenging to understand, but most worthwhile things are. You guys want to take all the fun out of everything.
I’m praying for you, Professor,, for your health, peace, and strength. Take care.
>Ann Althouse said...
The house had a girlfriend.<
Yeah, and there's a photo of a guy who used to live and he's in her!
“The various doctors would not simply accept my opinion that this was a isolated transient alexia — a migrainous accompaniment. They had to see it as a possible TIA.”
That’s reassuring. Humans are very good at finding the least frightening possibility.
Do you have plans if you do have a stroke?
Could meade care for you at home if you lose the ability to walk... plan ahead now. You'll be glad you got a warning if you do. Listen to your body daily, not trying to keep up with his...
It's OK to end the early morning up and out into the elements daily thing... its2 become a rut, no?. Try something new YOU enjoy, with or without him? Break the routine as variety keeps you (semi) active not just rising and doing the routine that got you nere... cut n the red meat for canned beans if you can...
Get your rest, pursue YOUR interests which naturally were more sedentary than his. Don't letcha boi put you in an early grave... not worth it for companionship,...
Dawn knows. Stay down there for m the war's aftermath, she says... do your time before you check,out on us here. You sure own this age, lady...
Dont let meade hang a vacancy sign on his girlfriend!
You'll never get over the third showing even if he never moves in... it's ok to be single too.
ITA or TIA or AIT or IAT or ATI or TAI
That will be All
"My dog found a photo *of* the guy who used to live in my house's girlfriend in my basement."
Weirdly enough, I got it at first glance, due in no small part to my proclivity to straggling phrases. 'Of' made the phrase less comprehensible and could have been a little better by substituting 'belonging to,' but still, a straggling phrase.
"The various doctors would not simply accept my opinion that this was a isolated transient alexia — a migrainous accompaniment. They had to see it as a possible TIA. Not only were various tests ordered up, but even the best results don't eliminate the possibility that it was a TIA and so the cautious approach is to assume that it was."
Doctors have a God complex. Trust, but verify.
While in my basement, my dog found a photo of this girl, who was probably the girlfriend of the previous homeowner.
The writing is quite clear to a dyslexic.
…the cautious approach would be to assume nothing…
I like the sentence. Nested possessives. Big deal. It’s how some people talk. Give me that over one of Ann’s obtuse omissives- claims to ‘write to a level’ but if nobody wants to climb all the way down there to figure it out what good is it?
…’guy who used to live in my house’ is a decent moniker. Descriptive, banal. Could be way worse…
…the best one I can recall is from a video of a day of surfing at Mavericks. Surfers are being towed in to the waves and the chyron is displaying their names. One person was unknown to the video editors and was labeled ‘paddle in guy’. I want to be ‘paddle in guy’…
I am getting off this thread but a big clue is the girl in the photograph is a girl, not a boy.
Come on, Watson, you can do it. You're a doctor!
I saw that reddit post. It made me feel weird that I understood the post title. It was not an ideal sentence, but it was perfectly understandable.
My dog found a photo in the basement of the girlfriend of the guy who used to live in my house. But I'm wondering if we can use parentheses and other signs (as in mathematics) to make better sense of the sentence as written.
She's the boy who drives by here every day at two in a green Cadillac and honks his horn's sister.
The house had a girlfriend...but it's family didn't approve, said she was nothing but an outbuilding and laughed about her remodel. She'd had some work done, it's true, but the house thought she was charming and she had nice gables.
Not a very good girlfriend to the house if she let some rando guy live in her while he strew about the basement photos vulnerable to being dug up by dogs but then you might say hey Meade you’re old fashioned and your opinions don’t matter to dogs and you might be right.
Smilin' Jack is right; in technical terms the English possessive is a post-clitic on the noun phrase, not a suffix on the noun.
Weird it may be, but that is the actual English grammar rule. And I love our resident Klingon's further example at 8:04am.
Seems like we should be able to work in that James Thurber drawing of the woman as a house that is intimidating a little man.
P.S. Bob Boyd, Meade read your comment out loud and I was delighted. Wanted to read more stories based on the prompt "The house had a girlfriend..."
Meade, hilarious and weird. Extra points if you can go interpostal and bring in the dogs that chased the thieves who dropped the portrait of Madame Pichon in the garden.
My dog, Bichon Pichon (who we just call “Madame”), found a photo of the guy who used to live in my house's girlfriend in my basement.
It would make much more sense if you just hyphenated: The-guy-who-used-to-live-in-my-house's ......
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 4 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith. Also: No italics, even briefly. Use asterisks for emphasis. And don't play with the format by changing fonts or using boldface or all caps. Never include more than one extra line break between paragraphs.