CompuServe Messages

I'm in complete agreement that 'opposite' _in this case_ denotes other half. A _problem_ is that 'opposite' _normally_ means….well, opposite, opposed, etc. Such that if we're 'for A' we're against 'opposite of A'. When we stop to think about it (and recognize that 'opposite' has a special meaning here) we don't have a problem. Unfortunately the normal connotive meaning of 'opposite' goes right past the cognitive process and straight to the 'gut'…and we get reactions based on the 'gut'. I _have_ noticed that when I use the phrase 'other sex' people generally stop to think about what I said (no automatic response to the phrase)….and I think that is probably good (i.e. thinking before reacting). For more along these lines there is: A.E. vanVogt (Null-A series (cortical-thalamic pause, etc.) (light SciFi)), Count Korzibsky (sp) (Non Aristotolian thinking (a VERY tough read, IMHO)) and Hiakawa (also sp) (General Semantics (very readable)). Reading (and even mostly understanding) these books hasn't kept me from reacting without thinking to words, but they _have_ helped me recognize how much of a fool I've been right AFTER I've made a complete * out of myself <smmiiille>. Victor A. Wagner, Jr.