[Sca-cooks] OT Linguistics, was: Ahhh...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Friday, June 27, 2003, at 12:09  PM, Jim Fox-Davis wrote:

>
> On Friday, June 27, 2003, at 03:59 AM, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus 
> Adamantius wrote:
>
>>
> [snip]
>> Interesting that that should be applied to one who truly believes 
>> that language is the oldest and best form of true magic. But then you 
>> probably think the pedants are revolting, so...
>
> Adamantius, have you ever read Diane Duane's _Door Into Fire_ in which 
> she describes a form of magic in which the words have to be put 
> together -very- carefully?  If you put a weak one next to a strong, it 
> gets overwhelmed.  If there's dissonance, the spell doesn't work, etc.

I've only read her "So You Want To Be A Wizard" books (six so far???) 
and the spin-off cat wizard books (two???). But the premise in all of 
them is that wizardry is accomplished via a Speech so powerful and so 
specific that whatever is said, in correct syntax, in The Speech, 
becomes reality.

> Then there's Suzette Hayden Elgin's books, like _Native Tounge_ which 
> are all set within linguistic parameters.

I seem to recall Sprague deCamp doing it with mathematics. But the gist 
was the same. It seems a relatively common theme.

Adamantius