the present continuous uncertain (was Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Origination of Capitalism)

["Andrew Hagen" <xah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 25 May 2001 03:29:08 -0000, Justin Schwartz wrote:
>I recommend Norman Cantor's Imagining the Law to all. [....]

It sounds interesting. I'll check it out when I get a chance. Although
I am about to get out the flamethrower, I really mean no disrespect.
I'm sure it is a fine book. It's only the book's title that I find
objectionable.

Please allow me to address a certain villainy, a wretchedness so foul
it corrupts our communications, a taint on language, a betrayal of
understanding, and a vile, demonic ethanasia of thought.

It is the present continuous sense employed without reference to any
action taker. I hope that no one has had the honor of naming this
beast, for I would call it the "present continuous uncertain."

Nearly every paid commercial advertisement in the English language
today employs the present continuous uncertain. I do not wish to
torture you by listing any real examples, and I'm sure you've heard
them all before. They go something like:

Making Your Computer Run Faster. And Warmer.

Feeding the world.

Unleashing our Genius in the Area of Fish-tomatoes

Providing debt collection services to the harried banking sector

Buying and selling, flipping and puffing consulting

Who, pray tell, is diong the feeding, the providing, and the
unleashing? Why can't they say, "We at Archon Middlebrow Damron
Corporation are building the future, one grapefruit crossed with
stegasaurous DNA at a time?" Notice that they would still be using the
present continuous, but not the present continuous uncertain.

If Nike followed this practice, their slogan would be "Just Doing it."
The PCU has not confined itself to advertising, though. A book title
like "Imagining the Law" is an unfortunate choice. Even our own Michael
Perelman has fallen victim to this insidious, creeping menace, sending
a recent message with the subject line "centring the eurocentrism
debate." Who exactly will be doing the centering? That is the question
that nags me. I mean no disrespect. The present continuous uncertain
afflicts us all.

In my view, the present continuous uncertain is just one of many
bourgeois, Orwellian corruptions of language and thinking. It does irk
me. I hope you will consider joining me in the grand quest to shut this
hideous beast outside the great hall of human thought.

Thank you.

>"The" jury system, that is, the common law jury as a fact-finder, was not in
>existence in pre-Norman England, however, that is clear.

Yes, we are in agreement. The jury as fact finder came in the Norman
period. The jury has had other roles, of course. The English jury has
Anglo-Saxon roots. Here is a relevant web page.

http://www.britannia.com/history/narsaxhist2.html

Andrew Hagen
xah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx