September 5, 2013

Inferring - mastered - CHECK

Connotation and Denotation

Denotation - This is a dog (insert picture of a dog)

simple meaning - this is indeed this - no hidden layers, no second meaning necessary, no mystery - this is how you communicate on a basic level.
eg - Mom, I am hungry. Okay, Tina, here is a bag of oats. Make your own damn breakfast.

Connotation -
layers of meaning - symbolic meaning - metaphor meaning - reference inside meaning - hey, kind of like INFERENCE!
eg - Lobb and wife are driving back from Tobermory in 1993 -
Wife: Do you want to stop and get something to eat?
Lobb: Nope. (he drives on)
(twenty minutes later)
Lobb: Are you mad?
Wife: No. Why would you think that?
Lobb: You are staring out the window and making a point of not looking at me or talking to me in any way.
Wife: No I’m not.
Lobb: I think I should have been gay...
Wife: You might as well now.

Some people do not like English because of connotation - it requires a kind of layered thinking and an analytical approach.

Math people do not necessarily enjoy playing like this

connotation requires ASSOCIATIVE THINKING and SYMBOLIC THINKING

that is to say - connecting things by ideas, and representing ideas in things

Denotation in School - read this paragraph. (you do it) then teacher says, “who is the main character? (you say Don) and then Mr. Lobb shoots himself in the eye because this is boring and ANY MONKEY COULD DO THIS.

Connotation in School - WHY - HOW - WHAT COULD X MEAN? - WHAT COULD X REPRESENT? WHAT DOES X MAKE YOU THINK?





Connotation requires a certain amount of:

experience
familiarity with the subject
a model (a way of thinking) (schema)
chance-taking (wrong answers aren’t bad)
possibility thinking - maybe this? maybe that? X could be Y, right?

Experiment - choosing a POWER WORD - a word that is probably LOADED with connotative meaning

MOTHER

The process of going deeper is the process of making connections from one idea to the next and linking the concepts by some amount of work, research, knowledge, experience and inspiration

eg sacrifice and motherhood can go very deep

Empty Nest -

What am I now? My kids are gone. I defined myself as a mother, now, what am I?

A child is a baby who was a foetus which was a piece of a woman’s body for 9 months

It is a LITERAL sacrifice to have a child and help it grow up to be strong enough to leave you.

FATHER
problem solver
they think in a linear fashion - you have problem, I have solution - easy!
powerful in comparison
seem to have a little less emotional stake in your problems
they don’t like to deal with the emotional side
they aren’t as in touch with their emotions
maybe solving problems makes the scary emotions go away - FAST
maybe dads are trying to get away from the entanglements of more emotion in the house!
maybe solving problems is a kind of escapism!
maybe solving your problems is a way of just getting rid of you
holy cow - maybe dad’s desire is to have his space back
selfish element to a dad’s desire to solve problems

Grandma
food = love & comfort
unconditional love - no judgment
sweater - knitting - warm, cuddly - comfort again
death - what waits for us all - if we’re lucky!
why do some people not want to see their grandma?
decline - the scary march of time