E Prime and my new language...

E Prime or English Prime, a language developed by scientists as the verb "to be" and all conjugations thereof are physically impossible.

Wow. Imagine that, our language, and all civilized languages use a verb that does not fit with the structure of the universe and implies a state that cannot physically exist.

Check it out, I write in E Prime and hope to change the way my mind operates!

Writing in E Prime and speaking in E' is EXTREMELY difficulty as we have been trained since birth to speak, and think, in a manner inconsistent with the universe. And, does this surprise anyone? Our culture teaches us that "we are gods upon the earth!" and loads of such hubris and nonsense. The verb "to be" implies mastery of the universe. To say "I AM!" is a subtle and, yet, not so subtle way of stating our hubris and godhood.

Whenever I say anything like this, civilized humans try to argue that point with me and their arguments remind me of the arguments my students toss up when I point out the fact that "humans are animals".

Almost all of my students, especially the "christian" ones, argue this vehemently. I usually respond with something along the lines of "denial is just a river in Egypt" or I ask them, "Do you eat?" Yes. "Do you drink?" Yes. "Do you breathe?" Yes. "Do you poop?" Yes. "Do you pee?" Yes. "Will you die?" Yes. "Then you're an animal."

What bothers me though, is that I have not yet found a way to do this without reverting to the use of "is, are, was or were" and it also frustrates the crap out of me because I have the ability to speak and think without it, but my mind boggles at a way around this corner. Gah!

Anyhow...I have made the decision that my science students will have to write all of their papers in E' this year. Maybe this way, I can at least force their minds around a corner and find new ways of referring to life. For instance, they will not be able to say, "that is a Chickadee," and will instead have to say, "we call that a Chickadee" or "he/she makes the sound 'Chickadee'". Hrmmm... needs work. Anyhow, I will try and try again until my students are ready to take the necessary measures to stop industrial civilization's march towards death.

Until then, the gf and I have agreed to start creating a pidgin language that will combine Spanish (minus the verbs ser and estar), English, Powhatan, Shawnee and Iriqouis to create a new, rewilded language. Ought to have fun with this, eh?