The Importance of Hyphens
I just received an email with a most apparently inconsequential title:"Hard to Find DVDs at DeepDiscountDVD.com!"
Though it was very difficult to find out what deconstruction was in my Literary Criticism class (though now I can see that perhaps it was purposefully done to nail home the point), I have since discovered that it is the process of dissecting language to expose its inner contradictions and inconsistencies. In a deconstructive atmosphere, no one can exactly say what quem means. Sometimes the speaker makes it easier than others to practice deconstruction.
Consider the above instance. If "Hard to Find" were hyphenated, then the phrase would modify "DVDs" in such a way as we might expect from a direct marketing email from Deep Discount DVD. As it is, however, it is much easier to judge that this is a critical email from a competitor, and the subject line should be followed up with something like: "Movies easily accessible at CheapDiscs.com!"
So is deconstruction legitimate, or is it merely a smart aleck's way to expose other people's lack of care when using their language? I'm sure that in some ways it is both. But we should eliminate one problem before tackling the other.
posted by Lynn @ 6:55 AM
3 Comments:
At least you pay attention.
I prolly would have just hit the "junk" button for that email long before contemplating the punctuation.
Have you ever heard the word "enfeoff"? Something about money and property or something? The book I'm reading likes to use it, but I don't understand it.
This could help:
http://www.answers.com/enfeoff&r=67
Thank goodness someone else is endeavoring to show just how very important hyphens are.
And, I'm in agreement with you: Deconstruction is both a way to point out problems in a text as well as to, as brilliantly as one can, show off how much of a smart aleck/clever cynic one can be.
I never knew how really important the entire approach of Deconstruction was until, well, yesterday and today actually ('til then, it was just fun). A friend of mine is doing a paper about the theological term of justification, and the entire dichotomy of faith/works and the privileging of the former over the latter begs to be deconstructed. I'd go into it, but I'm exhausted right now. And, it's a heavy subject for a blog.
Kudos, Lynn! Thanks for writing such clever blogs. You and I are, I think, stretching the entire genre of blog, but we might just be improving it, too.
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