Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

Vagueness

Metaphor

Problematic Meaning

Activity:

Jermaine lives close to his school, how near does he live?

Janet is a heavy smoker, how many cigarettes does she smoke a day?

Mr. Shah is middle-aged, how old is he?

Latisha's mother earns a lot of money, what is her annual income?

  • Unclear, indefinite, uncertain, imprecise
  • Meaning depends on context

-Fast, slow/tall, short

  • Impossible to make words fully precise

  • Usefulness of vague words

-Point us in the right direction

-Art, open to interpretation

An old man turned ninety-eight

He won the lottery and died the next day

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay

It's a death row pardon two minutes too late

Isn't it ironic ... don't you think

It's like rain on your wedding day

It's a free ride when you've already paid

It's the good advice that you just didn't take

Who would've thought ... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly

He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye

He waited his whole damn life to take that flight

And as the plane crashed down he thought

'Well isn't this nice...'

And isn't it ironic ... don't you think

Ambiguity

Irony

  • Unclear, often multiple meanings, sometimes caused by grammar
  • Uncertainty of meaning or intention

  • Context can help us judge ambiguous phrases
  • He eats shoots and leaves.
  • They saw Ana and the dog sitting under the table.
  • Visiting relatives can be boring
  • Many poor students are on scholarships.
  • I didn't sleep with my girlfriend until we became official. Did you?

When President JFK was murdered, headlines read:

"Kennedys Board Cutter On Way To Sea Burial"

The next day they changed it to:

"Kennedys Board Ship To Scatter JFK Jr.s Ashes"

Mini Activity:

Add punctuation (ie .,;:) to this phrase:

"Woman without her man is a savage"

  • Saying one thing in order to mean the opposite
  • We cannot take a statement at 'face value'

Examples:

  • "Any more bright ideas, Einstein?"

Ambiguity Used to Mislead

  • People might take advantage of ambiguity in order to to be interpreted incorrectly on purpose
  • Politicians sometimes use this in speeches to seem as though they in favor of something which they are not:

- "I am opposed to taxes which damage incentives"

Secondary Meaning

  • A phrase used to represent something that is not literally true
  • Examples
  • One might use context to judge whether something is being used metaphorically

- My brother is a butcher.

- My dentist is a butcher.

  • Dead metaphors

-Nightfall, brilliant mind, chair leg, in love

Hmmm...

Birds and planes. Fish and submarines.

  • Words have primary meaning (denotation) and secondary meaning (connotation)
  • Denotation- what the word refers to
  • Connotation- things associated with it
  • Denotation- public
  • Connotation- varies between people

  • Euphemisms- express things less harshly, more acceptable connotations

-Passed away/Died

Mini-Activity:

Explain the connotations of the following sets of words:

  • Slender, skinny, thin
  • Stubborn, steadfast, firm
  • Praise, flatter, comment
  • Stench, smell, fragrance
Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi