Is it “I never would have thought about it” means never happened and impossible?
While “I never thought it that way” simply means never happened?
How about “I would have thought before I spoke”, does it mean possibility but didn’t happen?
“I never would have thought about it” - never happened and impossible
“I never thought it that way” - never happened?
“I would have thought before I spoke” - possibility but didn’t happen
I wouldn’t have lied - never happened and impossible
I never lied - never happened
I would have lied - possible but didn’t happen
See the December issue of Modern Holographic Writing for the Tense Twisted. It will clarify this quandry.
I was thingking that the first sentence could mean that it was IMPOSSIBLE for the person speaking to have thought about it at some time in the past.
He/she never would have thought about it, even if he/she had the time. It was impossible even if he/she had the time. It didn’t happen. Doesn’t it?
It doesn’t mean it was impossible for them to think about it. It simply means that in hindsight (after the event) they don’t consider that they would have had that thought at all.
Consider for a moment the fricative plosives and the glottal stops of the Kreen Akrore people. Careful analysis will show that what they are actually saying shifts one’s viewpoint several degrees toward the anti-phoneme. Any comments?
I’m assuming that if I had taken my Milk of Magnesia when I was five, I would not have suffered from irritable bowel syndrome when I was 35, but as I am only 25, I must wait ten years to determine if my assumption is based upon my fear of impending Irritable Bowel Syndrome or my latent ability to see the future based upon my abstention from Milk of Magnesia.
So: Is my fear valid? Should I start taking Milk of Magnesia to forestall the Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or should I continue to abstain and develop my ability to see the future?
You know, I never would have thought about it either, but since I did think about it, I must accept that I did think about it, and now that I know I have thought about it I can’t unthink about it because I already did think about it, but I am considering unthinking about unthinking about it so as to leave no doubt that I did indeed think about it.
I told her to think but she’d already thought, and when I asked her if her brother might soon think she said I’d missed it as he’d already thunk.
I think I think but when I think about thinking I start thinking that maybe I’m not thinking at all but merely thinking that I’m thinking about whether or not I think.
I think therefore I thought, but if, as the critics say, all thought is for naught, perhaps unto myself I should retort, unthink that thought knave and give a thought to the thoughtless, who despite such effort, remain without an inkling that what they thought was thinking was merely the sound of god’s eye winking as the result of some careless plinking.
Thoughts? I ain’t got no thoughts! I don’t have to show you no stinkin thinkin!
When I was new I couldn’t wait for the day when I’d think my first thoughts…oh hurray
Time passed and hard as I tried nary a thought could be bought
So I waited for the day when I’d wake up and say
Look look mom I’m thinking don’t you know
But I looked up at mom with silent anguished woe
Nothing was coming I wanted her to know
I turned 12 and still could not think
Mom said not to worry and gave me a wink
I was now 18 and STILL could not think
Mom said don’t worry Harvard won’t raise a stink
When thinking fails use money in its stead
Now put all that anguish out of your head
Remember Georgie the heights where you reside
Sure you can’t think but push that aside
For over this country you will preside
There once was a fellow named Fink who swore up and down he could think
We questioned and questioned the entire session but all he did was wink
When pressed for an answer he replied to our banter
Yes, I stand mute yet I am astute
Let me tell you and all the world too
What I think is arcane and hidden from you
Is there a meaning to these messages, Freditor, or are you just a spammer?
Mais certaiment…
As much (and possibly more) meaning as you manage to read into some of the other blather written here. Perhaps it’s an exercise in what’s popularly (though erroneously) called free verse. No it’s not spam. I dislike spam, though I’m told it can be made palatable with the proper seasoning.
As well, it occurs to me that if I keep swinging I may eventually scrawl the next Pulitzer right here for the delectation of those who can’t decide on just the right nuance for asking directions to the nearest brothel (see above) or for those who say tomato instead of tomahto, or maybe even for those who can’t decide whether to say “a apple” or “an apple”.
It keeps the hoi polloi on their toes. Oh and before you correct me, I know saying “the” in front of “hoi polloi” is redundant. You see, I’m smarter than any ole run o th’ mill spammer.
AHH! a glitch! I didn’t want to stop there. I was going to invoke the image of the villagers, torches in hand rushing at Castle Frankenstein to rout out the monster. I can hear them screaming "abberation, burn him, run him out of town on a rail. We’re not gonna have his kind here. He’s crazy, a disruptor of the mental malaise. He wants us to make sense the first time. He just ain’t our kind and well have no truck with him. Somebody check his papers, maybe we can burn him outright if he can’t prove he’s one of us. Hell, he can’t be one of us…just look at the way he talks…puttin on airs an such. Thinks he’s better than we are… Okay, I say we vote right now and if he wins we keep votin until he don’t win. After all we gotta be democratic about this…
So, go ahead…crucify me. I’ll just tell my dad you know not what you do and he’ll call his good disciple Coppola to send the apocalypse now.
In that case, please can you start a new topic in an appropriate forum so that you can continue with your free verse. It is not appropriate in this forum and you should not have ‘hijacked’ someone’s thread for it.
I advise you to go here:
english-test.net/forum/forum3.html
and click the ‘new topic’ button to create a thread called ‘Freditor’s Free Verse’. Then you can practise freely without disturbing others who are trying to make sense of other messages posted in this thread.
Thank you.
(PS: this is not optional. If you continue posting ‘free prose/verse’ in other threads your account will be deleted as spam.)
I assume you know where to place your account …
You have been given fair warning and the tone of your PM has not helped your case.